The Abyss In Its Splendor
by Caleigho Meer
Summary: The aftermath of Yami's death and rebirth. Sequel to A Proud And Bitter Crown.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: I apologize for both the abrupt ending of The Proud and Bitter Crown, and also the strange, rather mangled way that this story takes up right where the first

monstrocity ended. I've written and rewritten it several times, and this is about the best version that I can hack so far. To update those who don't have the time,

inclination or desire to read through the first installment, (dang, that sounds pretentious!) Yami was killed off by Yugi, (sort of since he was technically dead, anyway,

and has been ressurected...to reside in poor Seto Kaiba's head. I am not sure if this will be an angst, humor, or pathetic fic, but I have a nagging suspicion it will be

a toxic mix of all three. God forgive me, and bless you.

One thing you will probably notice is that my chapters are getting shorter, and shorter, and more sparse. I hope that is a welcome change. I am open to any

critism to make sure my writing doesn't suck as much as I fear! And, to clarify, this chapter is where Yami is first put in Seto's mind...geeze, that just sounds wrong...

It was the breaking, the fragmenting, and the equally cleansing, hurting recreating from the same Hands that spewed for the stars

from the abyss, and the world from gently flung dust.He remembered little of the reformation of spirit to mind, of the memories

being poured out in all their weavings to form him for the last time. All he remembered of the strange abyss was the comforting serenity, the womblike

dark, and the shock and the abrupt searing as he was heaved out into the waiting world again, with a scream, and a tear.

The last remnants of who he was still lingered in his depths an unseen ocean that churned across his heart, and the eternal scars that now graced his spirit

still echoed in throbbing pain of what was once.The faded, jagged slash that still adorned his throat only ached in reminder, rather than screamed in futile

anguish. It was a welcome change, had he the cognition to really notice. Awareness slowly trickled back with the instinctive, but unnecessary act of breath.

Eyes opened with the depths of the first sunrise of creation's glory, to blink in languid peace. Yami's breath was slight, as he he groaned, twisted, and

flinched at both the shattering dismay of both his surroundings, and jubilation that he had not been cast back into the shadows, again.

Instinctively, he shivered, though his temporal form was far behind him, and he did not understand the strange memories of flesh and its sensations

that still made him mimic many of the same actions in life. They were dearly familiar, even if no longer necessary. There was something both liberating and

terrifying of being with a body.

He gazed around, trying to find a foothold in the reality that everything had been altered once again. He groaned and shook himself with a sigh of bitter resignation.

It was obvious from both the lack of vicious intention directed at him, or the shining golden bricks, that he was no longer in the Puzzle.

No, the walls around him were of dark velvet, and fire, radiating hostility,well-disguised turmoil, and over everything, a sheen of diamond hard ice, shimmering

in veneer, and guarding the small sliver of fear and fragility beneath.

Yami hesitantly probed a wall with outstretched fingers, and pulled them back with a yelp. To his horror, the velvet shifted, and the bright eyed dragon revealed

displayed fangs in a hissed warning, and retreated only when Yami stepped backwards. With an eerily satisfied look, the dragon wafted almost lazily back

into the shadows, calmly as a fish might submerge in water. From both the familiar sensation of being trapped in a magical binding prison, and the alien

sense that he was outside of a being, but looking inward, Yami was able to surmise with a gulp of frantic thought that he was in another soul room.

Clearly, it wasn't the Puzzle, Yami realized, as his limbs went slack in wonder and relief before his spine stiffened reflexively in alarm again.There was no radiating peace,

and there was no indication of who Yami inhabited now.

With a grunt of frustration, Yami sat down heavily, wondering if he should make his presence known, and then stopped himself from screaming in despair.

Thoughts, cruel as blades, and hungry to hurl him back into the darkness began their ravaging attack on his heart, as he shivered in pitying misery.

He was yet again trapped in another person's mind. He had no way of knowing who, or where this person might be, or what the results would be should

he choose to manifest himself in whatever world lay outside the confines of the vessle's mind.

And after seeing the decay of Yugi...

Yami buried his throbbing skull in shaking hands, as he let the tears fall without any attempt to wipe them away. To be subjected to the torture of being stabbed

and bleeding at the hands of Seth almost shattered what little hope he reserved for redemption in anybody. But to see Yugi's snarl of satisfaction as Yami's life was

ground out of existance with no more regard than an annoying cockroach? Was _this_ the world that he had bled, and suffered and died-twice for, now?

For one insane moment, Yami wished with all his heart that he still had the Puzzle around, if only to have the ready excuse for all the horror he endured was

just another attempt of the Puzzle to break him. Yami just curled up again, in helplessness. It was getting all too familiar for him to lose everything, he thought

with a despairing groan...

The involuntary flinch that made the left side of his face twitch in sudden anguish completely blindsided Seto, both from the sudden onslaught of the unexpected emotion,

but also the most bizzarre urge to sob. Seto shuddered with a grunt, and mastered the unexpected sensation with an indifferent shift of his position to signal his boredom,

as he waved impatiently for the usual corporate drones to finish their worshipping blather so he could go home and actually accomplish something.

When he actually felt the tear leek down his cheek, he clapped a horrified hand over it, and hastily scraped it away, with a snarled demand for a tissue, because

"something got caught in his eye."

For one terrible, humiliating moment, Seto thought he heard an unwise minion chuckle at his embarrassment, as he rounded on all of them with his characteristic

fierceness, and rose to his full, intimidating height to give them both an eye and an earful with the roaring retort of, "If I am shedding any tears, it's only because you've succeeded in boring me to them! Get to the point, and then get out of my office!"

He was rewarded by seeing them slink away with their heads cowed, and their tails between their legs like the worthless, cringing dogs he always thought them to be...

Seto heaved a deep sigh of relief that the pointless business meeting had concluded and his annoyances had left him in peace, but was not so pleased to realize that

the tears were still leaking down his face, no matter how much he gave himself an internal snarl session, or tried to distract him. There was no eye irritation, nothing

wrong with his mood. He felt as irritated and out of sorts as usual, but neither one of them had ever made him weep before...and it scared him.

Seto Kaiba prided himself on several things, but chief among them was both his absolute control over himself, and his mastery of his own innerworkings, despite what happened in the world around him. He did not glide through life, or bother himself side-stepping pretension.

If other people didn't like it, they could deal with it, and leave him the hell alone, thank you.

So, when he heard voices in his head, he simply downed an extra glass of wine, with a couple of

sedatives that he took when he couldn't sleep, figuring that the stress of KaibaCorps, and the

weight of the rest of his numerous responsibilities were simply getting the best of him. He blew off the terror with a forced shrug, met Yami's

echoing screams in the confines of his skull with so much resistance that Yami felt like he literally smashing a fist against a brick wall.

It was truly unnerving for poor Kaiba to be subjected to so much misery that wasn't his own...


	2. Attempting

A/N: Ahh, the second chapter. I sincerely hope that I'm not writing myself into knots, that the format is improving, and that I'm not boring anybody into tears, yet. This chapter alternates between Seto and Yami's viewpoints. The viewpoint switches are designated by a line. I sincerely hope to put some definite action in the next chapters, but I don't think this one has started off too badly, yet...

Yami had screamed and pounded fists, until his hands were bleeding, and his voice was hoarse, and raw, to no avail. With a weary sigh, Yami slid to his knees, and raised his head to the velvet darkness around him, wondering what there was left to do but wait, for what seemed to be hours.

Yami gently placed a palm over the sliver of glittering ice that barricaded the thoughts of whoever's mind he was trapped in, and hissed in pain when it burned. He pulled it away with a yelp, as he felt the reverberating snarl rip through him with so much hostility, he was brought to his knees. He cowered, waiting for brutal retaliation that never came, and after long moments on his knees, came to the confusing conclusion that he was really under no threat of attack unless he tested the barriers errected around things that were obviously horrendous to be so jealously guarded. 

Yami slowly rose to his feet, furious at himself for cowering, and breaking so easily, when he once ruled a nation, and walked free as a mortal, so long ago. Eyes narrowing in consideration, he wondered if there were perhaps, gentler ways of making his presence known, and then, possibly getting some help. It was certainly better than sitting and brooding in self-indulgent misery when the Puzzle might be hacking his body to pieces, and Yugi could be dying as he tarried. Yami wasn't too sure what the effects of him being seperated from the Puzzle would be, or what would happen if it were placed in the keeping of mortal hands. After seeing how tainted Yugi had become just by handling the cursed thing, Yami shuddered at the thought of what would happen if it should ever fall into the wrong hands. No, he mentally berated himself. He would not permit himself to drift downward into that sad, dark spiral into despair again. With a grunt, he summoned whatever power he still retained, and attempted to break free of the strange confines again. Closing his eyes, he placed a hand against the bite of ice again, and was rewarded by the sensation of feeling a bit melt into his skin, yielding, almost hesitantly.

Yami allowed a small gloat of triumph when he felt himself slowly sliding through the barriers. Whoever's mind he was in had either allowed him some freedom to explore, or their defenses were down. Yami lay a hand over the ice that had slid into water, and quietly spoke, with the majestic voice he used when issuing edicts in Egypt, in which he hoped it was reassurance.

"I..." Yami fumbled, in uncharacteristic awkwardness, and an embarrassed scowl. Exactly how did a disembodied spirit go about convincing a modern day person that they not only had another presence in their mind, but that it was not an invasion, or a sign of insanity? The sheer...impossibility alone made his head throb. He understood precious little about the concept of mental health, but he remembered the terror that Yugi had when he first emerged from the Puzzle's depths. Yami sincerely hoped to avoid traumatizing himself with guilt, or anybody else, if it could be avoided...which in this case, seemed impossible. Unknown to Yami, convincing said Seto Kaiba would definitely fall into that range.

Sighing, and gathering his strength, and his courage, Yami spoke softly, "I'd like to reassure you that I mean you no harm." From the waves of alarm radiating back from the walls around him, Yami knew that his words were definitely heard, and were registering on some level of acknowledgement.

It was an eerie sensation, akin to an echo reverberating through a dark canyon, spiraling downward to an impossible depth, before rising again in answer, rapidly spewing back with the inertia of a whiplash, which hit Yami with the same amount of force. Quivering as he picked himself up after the unexpected blow, Yami understood that message very clearly. He was definitely unwelcome.

There were certain degrees of seperation that Seto ranked in both annoyance, and outright invasion when it came to his jealously guarded privacy. He had no problem with the press fawning over the latest triumph of KaibaCorps, and regularly invited both the public, and the press to revel at his newest achievement. He was mostly indifferent to applause, or scorn, considering both to be far too fleeting, and petty to bother with, much. But, he did pay heed to his enemies, and he was almost paranoid in making sure that any vulnerability or tenderness he still had was reserved strickly for Mokuba. Indeed, Mokuba was the only thing in the world he valued more than his company, and he was fiercely protective against anything exploiting his love for his brother.

In public, he presented the unflinching face of stone that seemed to be more unmoving than concrete, except for the forced pleasantries that try as Seto might-never came across as anything less than a sneer. Seto, of course, never attempted to show his human side, and would have preferred that it vanish completely, since it did him little good to have his gut twist in emotions and turmoil he would never admit to. It was just...safer and easier that way.

So, the emergence of the tears at the boardroom meeting might not have been a great cause of concern for anybody else, but they left Kaiba feeling extremely unnerved. He had seen the slack jaws, and the snickers as they watched the damn drops leak from his eyes, and he cringed when he imagined the gossip.  
Seto Kaiba has a nervous breakdown in the conference room. He gulped, hard. It was only his imagination once again twisting itself into so many useless knots, but, he didn't know how to deal with it. So, he simply didn't. His laptop stood on the desk, its metalic case gleaming with invitation, as Seto grit his teeth and started clacking away at some needed emails. An elegant flute of champainge sat weeping drops beside his computer, and he downed it in one swallow. Kaiba was hardly a drinker, and he never permitted himself to get drunk, but the wine was refreshingly sweet,and he felt it was the lubricant needed to ease him into slumber without using another sedative. He detested using pills of any sort, considered it a weakness.

Unfortunately, they had proved to be more than necessary over the last few nights.  
Seto allowed himself the rare acknowledgment that perhaps there might be something very wrong with the brewing storm he felt was churning in silent, ominous warning.

He wasn't sure what to name it-whatever it was...It was the invading, vicious violation that twisted in his mind, the horrifying idea that his thoughts weren't his own, and he was finally crumbling under the weight of responsibility, and stress. It was the strange way that he heard the ancient voice of someone pleading with him for understanding, as it continued in its rich cadence until every word was laced with his dreams, and was able to be dismissed as much.  
It was the horrific fear that he was suffering some sort of mental derangement, and it was getting worse.  
Seto was hardly a fool, and he considered himself to be too level-headed to be plagued by hearing voices, or feeling such odd sensations, or now...weeping like a baby in a meeting. There was just something...wrong. Seto did not even know how to describe it, and it irritated and, if he admitted it, terrified him.

So, when said "voice"-Seto snarled out, for want of a more accurate label-started actually responding to his thoughts with the answer of "meaning him no harm," Seto bolted awake again in sheer, agonizing terror, as he blindly clawed fingers through his hair, and fought down the scream. He trembled in helpless violation, not bothering to force the tremoring to stop, since there was nobody there to see, anyway. Seto made a futile attempt to piece together enough lies and reassurances to himself that he had heard nothing, but from the pounding throb of his heart in his throat, not to mention feeling every instinct in his body jerking alive in panic...there was no way.

He shook his head, with a grimace as he surveyed the rumpled sheets, the early hour, and the sweating, tense heaving of his chest, as he sighed, almost in tears of his own now.

"I'm going insane. What the hell is wrong with me?!" Seto grit his teeth, in resolve, as he scowled, rose from the bed, and strode off to the bathroom. Sifting through the various medicine bottles, he shook out two pills of the strongest sedative that he had at the moment, and cupped them in a hand, hesitating. With a resigned shrug, he downed them with a swig of water he got from the facet. Insane or not, he needed sleep, and the slumber he would be entering shortly would be too deep for either a dream, or a fear to penetrate.  
Woozily, he slid back into bed, his eyes sliding shut.

Yami felt the blurred edges of oblivion lapping over rapidly fading awareness, as the host's thoughts shifted from coiled terror to slack, and yielding unconsciousness. Yami could feel the body coiled in defensive reflex as he attempted one more time to speak, only to have it completely ignored, and unanswered. Indeed, Yami mused from sensing the heavily medicated slumber creeping over the walls until they were engulfed.  
Yami only hoped it wasn't as hopeless as it seemed at the moment. 


	3. Shards

A/N: Flame away! This chapter sucked.

It was a tortured wait for Yami, trying to decide if it were more kind, or cruel to manifest himslf and confirm every dark suspicion his host had successfully choked down under layers of denial-or wait.  
Yami snarled at that thought when he had the heart sick revelation that the longer he lingered here, the more chaotic uncertainty would torment his host's rapidly decaying mental state, and the more danger to himself. He did not know what would happen if the host-for Yami-did not know who Seto was, yet-were to stumble into insanity, and after seeing the brutal aftermath of Yugi's corruption, and his own volital scars.  
Yami did not want to be subjected to any more. He honestly did not know if he could live through it again, though it seemed to be of little concern, as he was still not dead.

There was a yawning echo in his heart where the Puzzle used to be, and now, Yami, freed from the golden hell, as he called it, found himself dismayed and wounded to still be shackled. He had only traded one form of slavery for another. Gold for ice, Yami thought, with a scowl. It was a painfully acknowledged limitation as he grit his teeth rather than start the useless weeping and self-pity again. Did he not promis himself that he would never allow despair to dictate his decisions? Did he not want to be free from this torment one day? Yami sighed, with so much regret, and wounded guilt, heart-sick, as he stared down at the glint of ice, a pale crystal brilliance in contrast to the darkness as he knelt down, lay a penatent hand over a shard, and smirked, knowingly as it cut into his palm. He watched as scarlet ran down the side, in silence.

"Forgive me, for what I must do. I make the promise that I'll do all within my power ot restore what I am now forced to shatter, and heal what I am now forced to scar. Know that I'm only prolonging your suffering by this helpless lingering, and understand that-" Yami choked, swallowed down the scream, as he forced the words out in a jagged hitch, "this- this is the only act of mercy I can give you, now. A clean shattering instead of drawn out decay. I feel your torture by my presence, and I know that it's destroying you.  
I'm...I'm so sorry. Were there a way to spare you, I'd do so."

With a sad sigh of penance, and a moment to summon his strength, Yami closed his eyes, and sent a volley of fire in a shower of flames over the vast expanse of the glittering spikes of crystal, and diamond hard walls, and gulped when the fire rose higher, and spread to a virtual inferno. The ice, meeting the flame, hissed as if in violation, as some of it fractured, and melted into an ocean of glass, churning in its own anguished chaos. Yami's eyes bulged, and the rather stupid, and regretably late idea came to him that he might have made a very bad mistake. It was confirmed when the roiling water pitched over the crystal, and flowed over the ice, as the waves broke close to his knees, and he gasped to see the water reaching forward, almost like strangling hands, as he shuddered in terror.  
The flames continued their chaotic dance over the water, while the water shimmered in the promise of deadly retribution. Yami watched in torpor as the water burned bright, while the flame fractured over the ice, both clearly warring against each other, but both too equally gifted to establish a victor. Yami's flame did not yield, but it did not gain any ground, either. 

Yami wondered what he was going to do if he wasn't able to overpower the unpenatrable barriers that kept him imprisoned.

---

It was an extremely odd thing for Seto to fumble in recalling a name, mispeak a word, or even use a contraction in his business meeting. He was clad in his favorite blue suit, not bothering to hide his distain, as he folded arms, and granted an extremely relunctant audience to the auditors. KaibaCorp's stocks were soaring, the public loved the latest products, and it was doing damn good-as usual, thought Seto with a smug grin he quickly hid behind an exaggerated yawn, and a scathing glance at the clock. He opened his mouth, with the cold, but polite dismissal already formed.

The onslaught of both penetrating fire, and paralysis of freezing ice suddenly overflowed through his veins in engulfing, swallowing pain, as Seto gasped, and collapsed.

Seto's normally cold face looked like crumpled paper, and his eyes shut with finality. He twitched in a spasm as he slid to the floor, the air being shredded by his blood-chilling shriek of pain. His associates had gathered around him as he lay sprawled on the floor, clawing at his forehead with seeking fingernails, hard enough to draw blood. They watched, transfixed, as Seto's normally cerilian eyes rolled, blindly vacant, as gossamer webs of understanding splintered beneath the crushing weight of the invasion of his soul. They swept around the room in an unseeing arch, before they finally rolled upward, behind the confines of his eyelids, leaving behind the dull white where his fiery blue used to be. They finally called an ambulance after he shuddered into a full convulsion, his body locked in unwilling conflict with Yami's attempt to break free, as his mind splintered, and his body bore the brunt of the attack. Seto never regained consciouness as he finally flopped into a defeated heap, and lay so limp and still.

It was the fodder of gossip, flowering in all its cruel malice. Seto Kaiba, billionaire, regal, snobbish, and wearing his self-pocession like a mask, was seen all over the evening news of Domino City. Many eyes bulged at the odd, but tragic sight of Seto being swept away under the flashing bulbs of news cameras, and the intrusive microphones perched over him like a gathering of vultures. He was shown being wheeled out of the KaibaCorps headquarters on a gurney, raving and restrained by the EMTS, and the straps that anchored him to the bed. The waiting ambulance finally shielded Seto from all the horrific scrutiny, but he continued to scream like a gutted animal all the way to the hospital.

Seto looked nothing short of a lunatic to the media, as he spewed out psychotic rants about "fire and ice melting into my skull, somebody needs to stop it...". Seto was hastily wheeled down the gleaming corridors of the hospital, still restrained, as he tried to buck the straps, and started spewing threats to all who would listen about what would happen if they kept him "strapped down like I'm some sort of pyscho!"

That was quickly ended by the delivery of a needle full of Thorozine to his restrained arm. He wilted into the sedated stupor most unwillingly, fighting to keep his eyes open, his thoughts in his head and not flowing down to the floor, as he grew woozy, and sluggish, and scared as hell at the sensation of going limp, and drowning. He succumbed, but it took much longer than they ever thought possible.

When he was sedated enough to be fairly cooperative, Seto was subjected to myriad tests, blood tests, a CAT scan, a drug test, to see if anything could possibly reveal the cause for such strange behavior and mental collapse. Whatever reason behind the invasive questions, and gloved hands allowed such free access to his vulnerable and exposed flesh, Seto loathed them for it, and sneered at them all to hide his humilation, and the terror.

Seto was prodded, and poked, and examined, and injected, but there was no physical explanation for the sudden bout of madness. He alternated between simply shutting his eyes, gritting his teeth in tortured submission, and letting them do what they would, if it meant it would be over with faster, or simply cringing with hate-filled eyes at his captors. He answered their questions tersely, with a remarkable amount of self-pocession.

"No, I'm not fing insane, but it doesn't mean that you can't be."

"You have Doctor in your title. Did they start giving out PHD's from Cracker Jack boxes?"

" I see that my assesment of this situation being extremely irritating and you being incredibly demented right as usual."

"You'd better remember who the hell I am, if you come near me with one more needle, because I'll tatoo my name across your if you don't! Now leave me alone!"

It was his only demand, to be left alone, to be released, to stop their invasive probing of his mental capabilities, and quit tying him into so many anguished knots... They were at least gracious enough to allow him the privacy to use the bathroom, and Seto took the bizarre solace in finally getting a moment to collect himself under the glare of the harsh overhead light, and the pale green tile. He raised his weary eyes to the mirror, and was suprised to see his own face, looking almost the same as it had when all this madness started. The only difference was the shattered fear that radiated through his eyes, and the tense, weary scowl that threatened to crumble instead of the arrogant smirk. When he heard the knock on the door, the polite inquiry of the CNA asking if he was alright, Seto lost it.

With a grunt of anguished rage, Seto smashed a fist into the cheap mirror, watched it shatter, felt the shards sink into his knuckles, relished the pain because it was anchoring and solid, and real. With a satisfied smirk at the release, he gazed down at his mutilated reflection, the eerie shards revealing a piece of his face, as Seto shivered in grim foreboring. Was what was happening to the mirror happening to his mind?

Yami sensed, rather than felt, the hemoraging of Seto's sanity, dripping in scarlet rivlets over the ice that had grown shards and blades against the flame. It was the last defense, but a strong one, against the war Yami was forced to wage to break through the mental barriers. It was horrific for Yami to watch the decay, and he sent forth an apologetic wave of reassurance, and guilt. For Seto, it felt as if he were being marched by broken bones and his equally broken will, straight to the gates of hell itself... 


	4. The Toll That Madness Takes

Hell, Seto, realized, did not have to contain burning flame, or physical torture to be..well, hell.  
Hell could also have glowering lights in protected wire cages, perfectly waxed, shining floors, bright, tidily kept cages with white sheets, neatly made beds, orderlies bringing him food, with always the veiled threat of a sedative. Seto was collected enough, non violent enough, docile enough to be left alone for the most part. Hell could take the form of some mental anguish that he carried with him, and rather than demons tormenting him, ideas and voices, and gently perverse whispers that echoed up from his core, and tore him down even further than he believed he could go.

Shortly after his little stunt with the mirror, Seto realized, a second too late, the utter stupidity of anybody considered mentally unstable actually punching a mirror. The shower of slivers of glass was now scattered over the floor, and from the loud crash, Seto had no doubt that it was noted. Heartsick, he heard the cries of alarm, and pivoted rather stupidly to see the door flung open, and two burly orderlies silently strode in, flanked by a very stern looking nurse, who shot a sour glance at the glass on the floor.

"May I ask what happened to the mirror, sir?" Her voice was laced in icy consideration, and from the coldness of her eyes, and the dismissal, the hands already reaching to her pocket, Seto felt the tremor rising.

"I accidently broke it, miss...Sorry." Seto shrugged, warily, his eyes narrowing as he gave a pointed glare to both the orderlies. "Is that what triggered such a warm welcoming party?"

"Punching a mirror is a violent act, Mr. Kaiba. I don't think it's too difficult for a man of your intellect to see why it's necessary for the safety of the staff, as well as your own." The cool retort was delivered with pursed lips as she stepped aside, with a hand flung out.

"Now, if you would be so kind, Mr. Kaiba. Your presence has been requested for a preliminary interview with our on staff pyschiatrist. She'll answer any questions you may have. Kindly come along, please."

Seto scowled. "I'd be so kind to go with you, if you'd be so kind as to provide me with some sort of clothing besides this gown."

She narrowed her eyes, and smiled, condensendingly. "Mr. Kaiba, we are all professional people here, and despite whatever your legendary ego may tell you, none of us have the slightest interest in what lays beneath that gown."

"Then you will excuse my ego for wanting to keep what's beneath it, well-hidden, miss." Seto's reply was ground out, as his cheeks flushed, and his hands slid into unwilling fists under his arms.

The nurse stared at him,wolfishly as Seto inwardly cringed, before she turned over her shoulder, and barked, "Mariel! Go get a robe from laundry for Mr. Kaiba, please. And when you're done, please clean up this mess."

The CNA bobbed her head like a bird, gave Seto a look of awe, before she spun on her heel and darted out of the room. She returned with a polite nod, and an enormous robe that practically swallowed him, as he draped it hastily over his lean frame, and curled his lips in disgust to see that it still fell several inches short of his ankles. When he noted the absence of a belt, he did nothing but tuck the folds under an elbow, and carefully held it shut, even though the gown prevented anything from being revealed. Accusations of his ego aside, Seto was, in truth, extremely modest about his body, and loathed for it to be exposed. It only made him feel even more defenseless in a rapidly decaying situation.

With a sigh, Seto warily slank out of the bathroom, and almost yelped when the two orderlies slid over on each side, and flanked him as he slowly walked forward, following the nurse as she clacked her way down the hall. Seto shivered in spite of himself, and grit his teeth. It was hell, alright.

Yami stared in disbelief at the vast expanse of unyielding ice, his exhausted flame puttering to mere smoke as he recalled it with a despairing sigh. The ice had melted, sliding into silver pools and glittering with harsh, grim promise, only to freeze again in shattered formation. This was getting him nowhere, Yami groused, as he slid to his knees, and tucked his chin over folded arms.

He grimaced when he felt the revulsion at the invasive fire recoiling through the floor, as the shields only recoiled in their defenses. There was a sharp rise of rage, intermingled with chaotic terror wafting over the dark waters like a vapid mist, and Yami almost choked at the animosity that was directed at him. He was clearly unwelcome here, and he sighed.

"Why do you not help me escape this? You gain nothing by forcing me to remain imprisoned here. I will not remain a prison here. If it involves breaking through every defense, so be it!"

Seto flinched in bewildered shock as the blunt words flew out of his mouth, involuntarily. The nurse actually whirled in astonishment, eyebrow raised in pure shock, mouth gaping.

"Excuse me, Mr. Kaiba? What in the world has you convinced that, one, you are a prisoner, and two, I would help you escape?"

Seto just shook his head, tortured by the confusion, and the strange, invasive pressure of his own thoughts that made his skull throb.

"If I'm not imprisoned here, then, why can't I leave?" Seto's question was ignored, to his frustration, as they stopped at the polished oak door, with a golden name plate emblazened across it, announcing a 'Doctor Josephine Rachellet'. The nurse knocked once, and he heard the cheery reply of "Come in!"

The nurse opened the door, gestured for Kaiba to enter. Seto was extremely perturbed to note that the nurse took a seat beside the grand oak desk, folding her arms, as she gave him a grin of triumph. Seto thought he was going to vomit right there, but forced himself to slide into a chair, and crossed his arms in aggitated frustration.

"Can we get on with this, please?" He hissed, and flinched as the nurse only pat his arm. He gave her a look of pure venom.

Doctor Josephine Rachellet was comfortably perched in her leather chair, tilting it upward, and letting it fall to the floor, as she swung into view. Curiously, she raised an eyebrow to the nurse after seeing Seto's icy glare, with a brief, polite smile.

"Miss Kindra, I appreciate your concern over the welfare of your patients, but your attendance to a confidential meeting between a patient and a doctor is hardly necessary." Seto marveled at the way she could infuse perfect friendliness with authority in her voice, as the nurse reddened. Seto was most pleased to see her glare at him before she rose to leave, with a muttered, "Yes, Doctor. You will let me know when he's ready to return back to his room?"

The doctor nodded, brightly. "You know I will, Kindra. But, it will be a while, noting Mr. Kaiba's condition, and all of that."

The nurse, clearly deflated, slunk out of the room. Seto noticed that her eyes never left the nurse's retreating back until the door was firmly shut.

Seto's eyes swept over the doctor. She was rather non-descrept, actually, long, mousy hair drawn back in a bun, strange, greenish, mud-colored eyes that glowed out from her half-lens glasses perched on a wide nose, her plump body comfortably draped over the leather chair, as she stared at him, her eyes narrowed and probing.

"So...Mr. Kaiba. In your own words, what exactly do you think brought you here to this glorious place?"

He faltered, stared up at her, in suprise. "In your own words, would you mind telling me what brought me to this glorious place, Miss? Nobody's given me a straight answer so far, and I thought it was at least...polite to let a person know what they are charged with while they're imprisoned. Or am I now considered to be such a nut job that I'm not allowed to know?"

The doctor tilted her head to the side. "Mr. Kaiba." Her voice was indifferent, flat, emotionless.  
"You are not a prisoner, and being mentally ill is not a crime...if you truly are. My inclination tells me that your erradic behavior came about simply from both too much work, not enough sleep, and pure stress. I would be more than willing to bet that you just had...shall we say...a nervous breakdown, and a fainting spell? The pain in your head that you were noted complaining about? That could be attributed to a migraine, or just low blood sugar, or just a natural stress reaction. Almost anybody breaks when they reach a certain limit. So-" She gave him a gentle smile.

"You will be pleased to know that your commitment of 72 hours is over with. You seem like you're alright, and the orderlies tell me you have been most cooperative, with the exception of a certain mishap involving a mirror. I'm ordering your release...pending that you meet my conditions."

Seto went from flying elation to cold fear, as he stared at her, dumbly. "What sort of ...conditions?"

She grinned, cooly. "You are right to ask that, and it only shows that you are mentally sound...or very good at pretending to be. One, I am ordering you to cut back a bit on your workload. Two, I am going to recommend that you seek some counsiling as a means of dealing with your stress. So far, there has been no indication that you need to be held here any longer, Mr. Kaiba. As far as I'm concerned, you are free to go.  
But, you must take better care of yourself!" She scolded like a mother hen

Seto almost sagged in relief, and could only whisper his thanks from the sheer weight being removed... 


	5. Manifestation

Yami stared in dismay at the deceptively serene pool that grew ever larger, then raised dubious eyes to the last remainder of ice that wept tears and dripped in mourning down into the ever growing body of water. Even after all the fire, the ice still stubbornly clung to existance, and Yami felt the crushing guilt anew in knowing that he was responsible for its breaking. He did not dare imagine what shattered state the host's mind was going to be, and he flinched with anguish at knowing

what he was doing. He grit his teeth in anguished contemplation. Without his freedom, he had no hope of returning to Egypt, or knowing the fate of Yugi, and as far as he knew, he would be damned to be little more than a fragmented echo of thought, confined to the mind of somebody who clearly did not want him there.

But, why did the host fight so hard to keep him imprisoned? With a hesitant hand, Yami put a palm to the ice in sorrow, and snatched it away when he felt the reverberating, bewildered fear and violation that was bleeding up from its depths. Yami grit his teeth at the damage inflicted, and the damage yet to be done. He could only hope that there was some life to be salvaged for this inocent.

It was a slow, tortured breakdown, a losing fight against his increasingly chaotic thoughts, a loss of control of his most basic and brilliant intellect faltering into decay, and madness. Seto felt like he was being consumed alive, and he had precious little strength to hide his rotting mind from the outside world, now. Shortly after his discharge from the hospital, he had very unexpectedly, and

uncharacteristically taken a temporary leave of absence from his role as KaibaCorp's leader, under the guise of "my sudden bout of hypoglycemia, so that there will be a smoother running of KaibaCorps upon my return." Seto knew he had no such thing, and from watching the tape of him being hauled away, in hysterics and actually restrained as if he were a lunatic...Seto startled with the rather painful realization that there was not too many other explanations for his behavior.

Voices in his head? Visions of his thoughts melting like ice under a constant threat of fire?

And, the sickening feeling that there was something else lurking in the confines of his mind he had no ability to to define, only sense, and fear?

If that wasn't insanity, then what the hell was it? Seto put both shaking palms to his head, and fought the sudden urge to put his fist through a wall.

_Well, well,_ Seto mused darkly with a sad smirk. _I can now add sudden bouts of violent urges to my ever expanding list! _

It was the explosive crack that first drew his attention, and Yami watched in wonder as a huge chunk of ice yielded in slow, anguished surrender to melting, and it slid into the dark water, bobbing peacefully, only to be consumed and join the rest of the tears. Yami timidly swiped a quick finger across the volital frozen material and was ecstatic at the lack of biting pain ripping through his flesh.

Forcing his quaking nerves into submission, and summoning every bit of strength and fierce resolve he could leech beyond the cloying guilt, Yami raised hands in a high arch, muttered the prayer,

felt the fire surge, white and powerful, and blindingly warm through his very blood, as he

showered the last remaining chunk with an inferno. It bled, wept, melted with a sizzling, defiant hiss. It was definitely weakened,now, only brittle fragments of silver pools and the large river dotted with mournfully small diamond glints of ice drifting chaotically with the churning current.

It was fragile, and now, easily broken. Yami called back the flame with relief. There was no point in wasting it on something that was defeated, and he did not relish this as a victory. This was something that he had to break by necessity, not some enemy that deserved to be vanquished.

With a final grunt of effort, Yami tried again to force himself through the mental barriers. With an unbearable scream of misery, they cracked, slowly, and piece, by vicious piece, yielded. He felt the familiar echo of sensation reverberating through his core, like a silent wind sliding through his soul, the

unnerving, but harmless heave upward, and then, the spiral of darkness and light, shadows and sound and existance intermingling into a veiled mist, before dissolving, and leaving him quaking and weak, and blind until his eyes shot open and he was once again, outside the confines of the mind's host.

Now, at long last, Seto meets Yami...

He crumpled beneath the onslaught of sensations, ice and fire, searing heat, and freezing numbness coursing through his torpid body that lay contorted in the sheets, as his fingers twisted helplessly in the sheets. His breath died in his throat, he could not summon his strangled lungs to breathe, and all he could do was lay in paralyzed, fragmenting agony, his body convulsing as if he were drowning, his limbs flailing as if they were on fire. And, through the tortured haze, he felt something inside splinter, yield, and then finally shatter. He flung open his eyes, seeing nothing, as he panted, sweat dribbling down his contorted forehead, the stranglehold on his throat, and heart and mind suddenly going slack, the absences of the agony almost unnoted from his limited ability to even feel its emptiness. Icy relief slowly trickled back to his torpid limbs, as he felt his thoughts slowly drifting back into safe, cohesive reality. It was as if the vortex he was caught in suddenly ressurrected him. What the hell was going on, Seto did not even attempt to piece together now. All he could do was breathe, and blink, and wait for some sanity to return. Feelings, thoughts, sensations slowly hemmoraged to life, and he felt their return in one chaotic spew of new awareness.

With a grunt, Seto propped himself up on shaking elbows, gave the room around him a scathing glance, before burying his throbbing head in shaking hands. It was the shift of shadows in the corner of the room that drew his eye, and instinctively, his head shot upward, as he tilted his gaze to the strange, rippling darkness.

It said something of Seto's self-pocession that he could meet even a delusion with a snarl and arms crossed over his quaking chest, even though his

heart was thundering and he felt so close to collapse, he would almost relish the swoon if it meant this horror would just go away. There was the strange slant of golden light, sliding across the floor, the flicker of sparks dancing rather prettily, then manifesting into solid flesh before his eyes. He could not believe what he was seeing, but, given the shattered state of his mind as of late, Seto was forced to put more faith in what his eyes told him.

Seto scowled darkly as crimson spikes emerged from the shadows, violet eyes, and a tense, wary scowl almost matching his own. Flesh and spirit merged to solid, anchoring skin. Violet eyes narrowed in bizzare recognition, and a face half masked in darkness snarled out a name.

"Seth." The word was spit, bitterly, dangled between them, in a fading whisper, laced with so much hatred that Seto's eyes bulged.

Seto smirked, "I don't know who the hell you are, or why you're in my bedroom, but I advise you to leave now before I get pissed."

He had no idea that thoughts could shatter, or that delusions could suddenly manifest themselves into solid flesh. He clung voraciously to the hope that he was caught in a burning fever, and the sight before him was just a by-product of an overheated body, and torpid sickness, or perhaps he was still asleep and just caught in a particularly vivid nightmare.

That, alas, soon ended, when he saw the slender hand suddenly flung up, the fingers splayed towards him, the denomic figure rising over him, with a mad glitter in his eyes. Without any warning, the figure abruptly stopped its gliding stride forward, and merely hovered over Seto's bed, the eyes blinking in confusion, the hand lowering in subdued regard.

Seto felt the familiar rage flooding through his veins, only to cool down to icy resolve and calculating reason. With a grunt, and a heave of effort, Seto forced his slack limbs out of their torpor of fear. Using every violated bit of strength, Seto flung himself out of bed in one sweeping arch, and snatched the figure by the throat with a snarl of glee. Rising to his full, towering height, Seto hauled his attacker off the floor, and was soon met by an explosion of limbs, as well as a blinding, unexpected blow to the face that almost made him drop his assailant. His nose throbbed in rememberance of being slugged by that nutjob cousin of Yugi's. Seto growled, shook him like a dog might shake a rat, and then slung the small body against the stone,and smirked when he felt the body going limp, but not unconscious. He could feel the pulse in the quaking throat racing, feel the panting breath against his wrists.

Yet, his attacker did not cry out.

Not relinguishing his chokehold, Seto's hand hastily slid along the wall, found the light switch, and then flicked it on. Blinding white flooded the room, revealing the writhing form that dangled in his hands.

Yami saw the murderous rage flitting across the cerilian eyes, yielding to outright disbelief, as Seto openly gaped at his captive, rather stupidly for long moments. The grip slackened in Seto's shock, as he groped for some reason as to why the hell Yugi Moto would break into his home. His grip suddenly tightened as he grit his teeth with realization. His nose ached at the old pain from Yugi's cousin's punch. With a growl, Seto rammed Yami into the wall again, and was satisfied to see the Pharoah grunt in pain.

"What the f are you doing in my home, you little bastard?!" The demand for an answer was almost squawked out as Seto watched Yami heaving for air, and raising desperate fingers over his fists, in an attempt to pry them away for air. When Seto heard the pleading gurgle, he only released his grip to allow enough breath for an answer.

"So, that makes you a parasite, of some sort. What other explanation would you have for a being that is dependent on a host to live?"


	6. Mayhaps Not Madness

It was the thing of nightmares, the ultiment cruelty of whatever deity thought it amusing to be resurrected, and then once again find himself tortured by the vicious grip at his throat. Yami could feel the last of his breath, the drowning ache of his lungs as they twisted in anguished, instinctive heaves, his torpid body unable to draw any more air. And to be rammed, and penned against the wall, and see those hated, scathing eyes, the snarl, and the rage looming over him would have made him weep, had he the breath for sobs, or the presence of mind. All he had was the aftermath of his exhaustion from finally breaking free of the mental confines, and the remnant of protective instinct rising to his defense.

Yami felt the thrill of power trickling through his veins, and Seto's instincts throbbed in warning as the limp form still anchored by his fist suddenly stiffened. Yami's head shot up, his eyes widened with stunned, brilliant fire, and his dangling arms suddenly sprang to life, as he summoned his newly liberated ability. Seto's only warning was the strange babbling of Yami's ancient Egyptian, before he found himself engulfed in paralysis, his limbs going slack, heedless of his will, or the sudden surge of helpless rage that was soaring through his veins.

Yami was abruptly released from the punishing grip as Seto grunted, first in annoyance, thinking he had merely suffered a dizzy spell, and slithered harmlessly down the wall until he was nearly sprawled. Yami smirked, when he saw Seto's face twist itself from rage, to confusion,and growing...terror, as his body lay, unmoving, and his limbs completely unresponsive to his tormenting instinct to bolt upright and put his fists to more use than his mouth.

"What the hell did you drug me with?!!" Seto's indignant squeal emerged from the floor, as he flinched in revulsion of Yami standing over him, triumphantly, slowly gliding forward in a way that most other people did not dare. Seto felt the fear trickle through his stomach as Yami casually raised his fingers, pointedly, made a show of gracing them over his throat, and then fixing Seto in a promising, punishing glare.

There was no answer from Yami, as he lingered over Seto, his mouth drawn into a scowl, his amythest eyes unreadable, as one hand shot forward, gripped Seto's chin, and tilted it upward. Seto met his eyes with a defiant glare, narrowed, and extremely pissed, as he found himself forced to turn his head to the side as his captor continued his bizarre inspection of his face.

Yami's heart clenched with terrible, but all too familiar awareness, that he had, once again, made a tremendous mistake. Seth's face glowered at him, and the resemblance was eerie, but there were too many key differences...that radiating defiance that made his captive fight with every last ounce of strength he could summon, the complete lack of recognition in this fiery eyes of ice, and the way his entire frame tremored with rebellion against the enchantment. Yami could sense violated pride, helpless rage, and indignant humilation at being shackled in his own home. But, most of all, Yami could sense overwhelming fear, however well disguised it was by those eyes and that mask of anger.

With a troubled glance to his fist, and then to Seto's regal nose, now crinkled in anger, Yami gulped when he realized just whose mind he had been inhabiting all this time.

Apparently, he was not the only one who made the sick little connection at that moment, because Seto's own eyes flickered from Yami's fists to his own nose, then back again, before he roared, "You bastard! You're that freaky cousin of Yugi's who nearly broke my nose! Did you come back here to finish your beating, or what?!"

Yami's ears were stinging from the sheer volume, and he was already incensed with knowing that the person he had belted did not actually deserve it, And now, to have actually worked a paralysing spell on him...Yami sighed with irritated guilt, as he raised an eyebrow, and addressed Seto as politely and solemnly as his shattered composure would allow at the moment.

"I apologize, for my treatment of you, for this frightening situation, and for the fear of insanity you've been tormented with for the last few weeks. Had I known that it was causing you such a hardship, I would have spared you, were there a way. It was unjust, and I know that it almost destroyed you, or at least your standing in this world." Yami concluded with a bitter shrug, as he resumed his wary scrutiny of Seto.

Seto stared up at him, stunned, and stricken. "How did you know-" He shook himself mentally, bit back the astonished question, and quickly slipped back into the refuge of distancing sarcasm. "I hope you enjoy your five minutes of holding me hostage, because when this drug wears off, there won't be enough of you left to bury."

Yami only grunted. "Seeing as I've rendered you unable to move, I find that hard to believe. However, I would be more than happy to remove the spell, if you will be so gracious as to answer a few questions, and hear me out. If, however, you feel the need to spout empty threats that we both know you cannot possibly carry out, I will be forced to silence you. What is your choice?"

Seto could only stare at him, before spluttering out in a bitter, barking chortle, "What the f----? Do you mean to tell me you think you can keep me bound and silent in my own home?! I have the best security system in the world, I can easily have you destroyed, I-"

Seto's voice was suddenly silenced at Yami's command, as his mouth hung open, and he tried desperately to fling another insult at Yami. The result was actually rather humorous, because Seto simply refused to accept the fact that his voice was not obeying him, for the first three attempts, fueled by anger, only to end in fear. Seto stared up at Yami, gaping, his breath starting to come in panicked little pants, as he shuddered. The sickening realization that he was absolutely helpless broke over him in one dark wave , as he swallowed hard, fought to keep his reason, and choke down the terror. From the cold, brutal stare that emerged after Seto's head snapped up to stare at Yami, with a silent sneer, Yami knew that Seto was granting him an audience.

Yami only offered him a kind smile, one that comforted Yugi so long ago. "Let me reassure you that I mean you no harm, and that there will be no lingering effects of either enchantment. Your ability to move will be restored momentarily, and your voice shall come back...now. You shall keep it, if you answer my questions, and refrain from screaming at me."

Seto eyed him warily, bit his lip, and then ground out, "How is any of this possible?Am I just in a hideous nightmare?"

Yami shook his head, sadly. "I'm afraid that you are not, and for that, I am genuinely sorry."

"What the hell is your connection to my supposed insanity?! Are you trying to tell me that I wasn't going insane, but that I just had some maniac running around in my brain all this time?!" The question was spat with unmistakable fear, as Seto's eyes glittered up at him, dreading the confirmation, but so desperately wanting some other explanation besides going crazy.

Yami nodded, solemnly, before venturing, softly, "I understand that this is hard to accept..."

He was interupted by Seto's rude snort. "And exactly why would that be? After all, it's not every day I'm drugged in my bedroom, and assalted by a maniac who claims he's got magic powers, only to find out that he believes that he's the little voice in my head!!!"

Yami only gave him a tolerant shrug, before continuing: "Very well, then. Let us look for another explanation, shall we? From what I understand, after dwelling in your mind, you're both brutally defensive of your pain, and extremely leery of anybody violating your sacred boundaries. You have a brilliant intellect, and you're very proud of the abilities of your mind. Now, that being the case, would you feel more comfortable accepting the fact that I am merely a hallucination, proving that your sanity is as broken as you fear? Or, would you rather accept that I exist, and help me so I don't trouble you an more?"

Seto's eyes bulged, and Yami coughed to hide the brief smirk of triumph.

" 


	7. The Masks

So, Seto's only options were isanity, or trusting the insane possibility.Neither one of them were very appealing.

Seto did allow his ego to savor the triumphant revelation that he was, in fact, thinking quite rationally, not

troubling himself with questioning the reality of the situation, or tormenting himself with the delusions.

It was far too horrifying to even contemplate. So, he simply chose not to.

Seto felt his lip curl in automatic distaste as he pondered each possibility with revulsion. His head throbbed, and his

irritated scowl only deepened as he glanced at the early hour announced by the red glow of his digital clock. He

stiffled the first yawn, but allowed the second one to emerge, in an effort to emphasize his indifference to the situation.

Hell, whatever chance of sleeping he had was ruined, anyway. He chanced a concealed look at Yugi's freaky twin, and

was most displeased to see him eyeing him back with unnerving awareness and a comfort level that nearly made Seto

want to slug him. From the tense glare of those violet eyes, to the wary, infuriating patience, Seto could see he was gaging

his reaction before innitiating any more action.

That was fine. Seto glanced at himself in the mirror, and was irritated anew to see how flamed the veins in his eyeballs were,

how his hair now morphed into untamed, dark tangles, and how even his face was still adorned with his unshaved facial hair.

Seto huffed in annoyance. He looked like hell, and didn't feel much better.

He saw little point in wasting time with catering to cherished self-delusions of this being a dream, or a figment of his imagination.

Yami's eyebrow flickered upward when he saw Seto's defeated slump from sheer weariness, before he crossed his arms, and

resumed his icy glare, and straightened spine.

With an extremely relunctant sigh, Seto forced himself to grind out the words, that suddenly stuck in his throat like rocks,

"And what sick reason makes you justified to screw with my head?"

Yami only stared at him, bewildered. A the moment, he was literally envisioning a metal screw penetrating Seto's craninum,

as his brow furrowed into complete confusion.

Yami heard Seto suddenly suck in air, as his jaw dropped. Seto exploded into movement, scrambling to his feet with suprising grace,

his face flushed with fury, and his characteristic snarl once again drawing his lips back into a dark grimace of angered fear.

"I'd like to see you try to drive anything through my skull, you freak!!"

Yami's eyes suddenly narrowed as clarity emerged, and raised a placating hand as he instinctively propelled backwards away from the

threat of fists or whatever else Seto's increasingly perturbed mood swings might dictate.

"I have no intention of harming you. What you saw in your mind was merely my concept of what your words meant, not any intention that

I have towards you."

Seto did not answer. He couldn't. He only raised azure eyes to the ceiling, breathing in increasingly short, betraying heaves that snorted his fear again.

His face was impassive, revealing nothing more than seeming indifference, but internally, he struggled to contain the increasingly volital emotions that

churned over his fear, and his losing battle to find reason or denial for the shattering of his mind.

"You just read my thoughts."

Seto said it with complete detachment, as he lowered his eyes to stare at Yami once again. Yami only nodded, uncertainly.

"So, you can read my mind. Terrific." The icy sarcasm was almost barked out, as Seto's scowl returned., along with the vicious fire that lit his eyes with

deliberating cruelty.

Yami stiffened as the horrible image of Seth with his vicious blade burned across his thoughts. He shivered, stricken into silence, as Seto took note of the torment that suddenly made his captor nearly crumple.

That was interesting..."What the hell is wrong with you? Why do you keep looking at me like that?" Seto growled, as he gave Yami a scathing look.

Yami's eyes lost that empty, yawning, paralysing pain, as he shook himself, forced him back to the present reality.

With a sad, brittle smirk, Yami only shook his head, with a chilling chuckle that was laced with a sob. Involuntarily, his hands rose to the leather necklace, and its elaborate buckle that concealed the horrible scars around his neck.

"Need I elaborate on everything that is wrong with this situation? As for why I keep looking at you ' like that'...perhaps it's better that I show you, rather than try to explain."

With those cryptic words, Yami slid the buckle free from its confines, let the leather slide away from his flesh, and raised his chin in the fragmented lamplight, allowing the glow to flame over his exposed history that was seared across his once vulnerable throat.

He heard the gasp from Seto, as his eyes widened in troubled astonishment. The wound wound around Yami's neck, like a perverse necklace, was slashed over the flesh nearly from ear to ear, in haphazard lines, carelessly hacked away. It looked more like an animal had clawed his neck open, and it was deep enough, Seto wondered, in bemused swoon, how a neck could maintain that much damage and have a head remain attached. Seto shook his head in absolute disbelief.

"I'm suprised you weren't decapitated when that happened. How did you survive that?!"

Yami only shook his head, sadly. "I did not survive it." He whispered softly.

Seto only cocked an eyebrow, warily. "If you didn't survive it, what the hell are you doing _here?_ And what do I have to do with any of this?"

Yami only gave him that resigned, broken smile, before he sighed. "Rather than tell you, I will show you."

Before Seto could even scream, he felt a hand at his temple, darkness overflowing to engulf him, the last tether to the world severed as he fell into

the abyss.

It was the glitter of a blade dancing over a quivering throat, the steady, deliberate archs that graced silver over the vulnerable flesh, the torture of the

first cut. Cold, cruel metal, and hot, helpless blood, spilling down from the open wounds, running down like tears in the desperate effort to wash away the evil act. The strangled shuddering of the victim, as he contorted in defenseless, scarlet agony. It was the searing plead of tears from violet eyes, wide in unbearable anguish, screaming of the mortal cries that no words could ever give justice to, before the light fled from their depths, and the void of emptiness filled them. A blank, wrenching stare glimmering from the bloody aftermath. The inevidable yielding of flesh to a knife. The severing of the cruelest kind.

And when Seto's own eyes ventured up from the victim's mutilated body, to seeing the smug satisfaction adorning that face that so resembled his own, he wailed, in entreating denial, in desperation to wash the stain from his thoughts and the torment from his heart.

And as quickly as the horror filled his mind, it fled. Gone were the stone walls lit only by torches, the elaborate, bloody altar set for the sacrifice, his

demonic lookalike grinning over that severed body...

Seto found himself on his knees, and nearly yelped when he felt a steadying hand on his shoulder. He jerked his head around to see Yami staring down at him, with sad understanding.

"Who was that man?!" Seto hissed, in anguished terror.


	8. Snare, Part One

This is both short and dark...

The Memory's Snare...

Seto watched warily as Yami's hand began its instinctive crawl up the laticed scar around his neck, fingers aggitatedly scraping at the flesh, as his eyes grew more vague, and large and filled with the yawning emptiness of anybody caught in an memory that can never be escaped. Seto's eyebrow shot upward in a questioning arch of irritation. Seto's emotions were almost always as volital as a storm, raging, surging impulses he had to choke back, and restrain. He hated being dictated by his erratic mood swings, but seeing that look of raw pain so nakedly unguarded across his captor's face was almost too much.

Seto grunted loudly, hoping to dislodge the nutjob from whatever oblivious mental fog he was obviously drifting through, to emerge and give him answers. When that drew no response, he jabbed an irritated finger through Yami's side in a cruel poke that happened to violently collide with the healing rib. Seto flinched at the yelp, and the wince as Yami shuddered, arms flying to coccoon the old wound, violet eyes narrowing into a vicious glare as he grit his teeth to stare upwards at Seto.

"You should have answered me." Seto muttered with a shrug, as Yami sent a scathing glance to his side, and then siddled his eyes up to Seto in silent demand for an explanation.

"I would strongly advise you to simply ask for my attention before you take the liberty of poking my broken rib with your finger, unless you happen to enjoy having your digits severed from your hand." It was a silken promise, brittle in its delivery, as Yami's low, indifferent voice actually made Seto shiver. The arm curled protectively over his side only tightened.

"You nearly had your head chopped off by somebody who looks like me, and you're bitching about me tapping you on the shoulder?!" Seto's sneer was mouthed out behind a hand clapped over his mouth to stop the undigified snicker that was threatening to spew forth.

Yami's head snapped forward, eyes rising with fire, contrasting so harshly with every ice-laced word that Yami snarled out, "Do not touch me again. I have my reasons for it, as you plainly saw."

They stared at each other for a long moment, the only sound in the room was the blooding thunder of Yami's clenched heart, and Seto's slow, deliberate breaths that suddenly came in short, hurried pants.  
Yami noticed the clenched fists slowly uncurl, as Seto lay calm palms against his knees, studied them for a long moment. Yami felt the slide of fear curdling in his gut like rancid meat as Seto only raised his eyes, and spoke with an eerie calm that was more alarming than hysterics, or blind rage could ever be.

"Let me see if I have this straight. You were a murder victim...apparently some sort of cult sacrifice, gone horrifically wrong, that had your throat slashed open by somebody who looks like my twin, only to suddenly rise from the dead to pass yourself off as Moto's cousin. And, now, instead of me suffering a nervous breakdown like a normal human being, my skull is currently inhabited by a parasitic ass-ghost who has the power to render me mute and paralyzed by his magic powers."

Yami only blinked, and said, flatly, "So it would seem. Besides your referral to my presence as an 'ass-ghost'  
I dare say that you have summerized the events well."

Seto only smirked, and shook his head. This was going to be one hell of a night.

And, now, for the Yugi lovers...

There was blood on his hands, blood that never washed away, no matter how much he scrubbed, or wept, or begged penance. There was a guilt searing through his tortured thoughts, permiating every bleeding shard of his bleeding, broken reality, an existance as fragmented and broken as Yami's poor, battered corpse that once lay under his boots. He was hemmoraging madness, as the bruises from his self-inflicted wounds sang out their testifying torment. He was doing penance from his grief, staring with empty eyes at that hated piece of golden hell that broke everything down, and inspired him to kill an inocent person.  
And, he stood hunched and sobbing over that corpse until the last violet letched from the bright sky into night, and Yami's blood had turned from screaming, sticky, scarlet warmth to muted, dead red, still descrecating the inocent hands with the loud color, the horrible knowing, the horror of what he could no longer undo.

Tears, and blood. Vomit, and snarl. Madness, and desceicration, and inocence thrown away because a demon had whispered in his ear, and he had some point to prove, and Yami was just there.  
The tormmenting questions coiled in serpentine grace over his increasingly disconnected thoughts, as they floated, and flew, then grew teeth and bit down on his fragmented mind.

Yugi had killed somebody, and he could not even salvage any reason why. Not only had he slain Yami, he had tortured him, as he begged and cringed and struggled before he died, so silent, and still, as if he had just drifted to sleep, and had chosen never to wake up...

Yugi swallowed against the bile gathering in his throat, stared stupidly at Yami's corpse, before he shuddered, and squealed as if stabbed. Torpid ice gripped his limbs in a bizzarre swoon that did not allow the liberty of fainting. He was sweating and shaking, but felt so cold...Unwillingly, his eyes drifted back to Yami's corpse, and lingered, as if either seeking denial that Yami was gone, or forcing himself to accept the truth and devise some sort of action. Anything was better than suffering and staring. Yugi was not sure if he was already insane, or rapidly becoming so. With fingers twisting, he gripped the sheet, and flung it over the corpse, and turned away. At least he wouldn't have to stare into those dead eyes for the moment, Yugi thought, bitterly, as he ran shaking hands through his hair, and panted in a quaking stupor, unable to move, unable to think, unable to force himself out of the stunned paralysis. And he lingered that way in that frozen, sickened state, even after he heard the gentle twinkle of the Game Shop's front bell on the door announcing Solomon's entrance.

Yugi heard his grandfather bellow his name in its usual friendly, heard the old man's lumbering steps to the room, the muffled whisper of his name, the door sliding open. Silence. Bitter, unbroken silence.

A hand, gnarled with age, his name mutilated by the shriek of it from his grandfather's lips, as the old man fell to his knees beside Yami's corpse. One hand desperately groping over the still chest in futile denial, seeking a whisper, a breath, a heartbeat. Solomon's hand flopped to the earth, as he rocked back on his hauches, and stared dumbly at the aftermath, before raising those burning, violet eyes to his grandson, the questions and the pain searing like a brand through Yugi's torpid thoughts.

Why?

Yami lay like a slaughtered lamb, the ultiment sacrifice for Yugi's selfish existance.

Solomon only shook his head, turned to Yugi, his only surviving family member, gave Yami's corpse a long, troubled glance. With a grimace, and a hand squeezing Yugi's shoulder, he bundled the corpse neatly as a gift in his steady arms, and lifted it off the floor.

Mouth working around his mustache, and anguish and guilt being masterfully forced down by the resolve to keep Yugi alive and free, Solomon went through with the sick task of disposing of Yami's remains. 


	9. the Bitterest of Agreements

So, these were the two choices laid out before him? Accepting the horrifying possibility that he was every bit as insane as he feared over the last few weeks, or cater to the impossibility that Yugi's pyschotic cousin somehow had the ability to reside in his brain. Said pyscho claimed that he had inhabited Seto's mind for quite some time now, and somehow burrowed through Seto's shields like some disgusting parasetic insect that sucked the flesh off the victim, and gorged itself on the pain...

Seto shivered at the mental image, the sickening choices before him. Acceptance of madness, or rejection and a denial he could no longer sustain? Cooperating with the one responsible for this whole debacle his life had become, or continue to battle against the truth, and have certain insanity as his only reward?  
If he were alone, Seto would have either downed enough sedatives to drug the problem away, or simply dress, and head to the office a few hours early, in an attempt to work his anguish into submission.

Long, regal fingers drummed against the bedboard in a desperate attempt to maintain his false attempt at nonchalance, even though Yami could see the pale crinkle of shock pinching a white line across Seto's forehead, the troubled glance, and the tremor he could not hide. With a grimance of extreme relunctance, Seto's saphire eyes began their slow, considering slide from the floor, to Yami.

"So, who was that man who looks like my twin? What did you do to piss him off to the point that he tried to hack your head off?" Seto barked, irritably, as Yami swallowed hard at the callous questions.

"His name was Seth." The soft answer came up, as Yami's fingers once again glided along the scars, and his eyes were far away and lost. "He was my cousin, and high priest, one of the most noble men who ever served me, until he fell into corruption. As to why I was tortured and murdered by his hand, I have no answer for that."

Seto's mouth twisted as if he had eaten something nasty, and he chewed the inside of his cheek, uneasily at the bizarre stab of remorse that suddenly rose. That broken look of pain that lit those violet eyes was gut-wrenching.

"Your twisted family relations aside, you still haven't explained anything substantial, or given me any reason to do anything but call the cops and have you locked away."

Yami suddenly jerked as if stabbed, but then raised his narrowed eyes, cooly. " I see little need to explain anything to somebody who willingly refuses to understand. As for your threats of having me locked away, please tolerate me pointing out the very obvious flaws with that plan. I am quite capable of returning to the confines of your mind anytime I please, and I have resided there long enough to gather that you are terrified of insanity. That being duly noted, exactly what is the wisdom in attempting to lock away what will be viewed by the rest of the world as a delusion? I believe you've already seen the consequences of non-belief, and fighting against acceptance of what you know to be true. I know that you were almost broken during your brief incarceration at a mentally unstable individual. What do you think would happen to you if you attempted to force me again?"

Seto paled so quickly, Yami thought the man would faint as Seto's jaw dropped in horror. "It was you. You were the one who nearly killed me, made me look like a fool in front of the world, and then had me actually forced to undergo a pysch evaluation!"

Yami only sighed, regretfully. "Unfortunately, it was my actions...however unwittingly, that made you endure that horror, and for that, I apologize. I never wanted you to be subjected to any of it, I assure you. But, there was no other way for me to break free of your mental barriers. They were very, very strong. You should be reassured to know that they are healing bueatifully." Yami faltered, with an awkward shrug.

Seto snorted. "That's definitely good to know.So, the next time you decide to take a leisurely stroll through my head, I only have to worry about you shattering them completely so I'm left a drooling vegetable?! "

"I have given you my word that I mean you no harm"  
"Then you have failed miserably, you bastard!! What the hell do you call nearly destroying somebody's life? Tell me one damn thing that you've done that could ever remotely be considered beneficial"  
Seto roared.

"I stopped. I think you are well aware of my powers, and the damage I could inflict upon you, were I really intending you harm. I could have shattered your mind completely. I could have left you mute and paralyzed until you went insane from the fear, or simply murdered you while you were helpless. I know that I have absolutely no evidence to give you that I am anything less than a cruel monster, other than that. But, you can either accept this situation, deal with it, and help me, or you can fight me inch by tortured inch, until I'm forced to do exactly as you fear. You will find that I require very little of you, and I am not interested in stealing your life away. Fight me, if you wish, but you'll suffer for it. Help me, and I'll be out of your life all the quicker. It is your choice, of course. But, I think a prudent form of action would be to satisfy both of our wants. I want to be free, and you want me gone. That's not mutually exclusive. What is your answer?"

Seto snarled. "What do you want from me?" 

"Nothing that will be too painful, I promise. What is your name?" Seto's eyebrow shot high. "You've been in my skull for the past few weeks, and you don't know my own name?"

"And what need would you have to repeat your name to yourself over and over again if you are aware of who you are? Does that not strike you as being idiotic?"

Seto huffed in annoyance, then, in bitter surrender, spat, "Seto. Seto Kaiba. But don't get any cute ideas about giving me any stupid nicknames. I'll answer to Seto, or Kaiba, or sir, but nothing else. Got it?"

Yami said nothing, only snorted.

Seto stared at him with his cold eyes narrowed. "Let's get moving. The quicker we get this over with, the quicker you're out of my life. We've wasted enough time with pointless chit-chat."

Yami nodded, solemnly. "Your haste in addressing this is most refreshing. We will start by you assisting me finding a young man named Yugi Moto. You came into his grandfather's game shop a few weeks ago, and called him by name, so I assume you are familiar with him?"

Seto ran a long finger down the length of his nose, gave Yami a bitter glare. "You assalted me in that pathetic game shop. How could I forget?!"

Yami winced at the memory. "I apologize for that. I know now that my actions were cruel, and uncalled for. You are not Seth, I know that now."

Kaiba only smirked in answer. "Don't be getting any bright ideas of beating me into submission. It won't work."

Yami shook his head, ignored the barbed comment. It wouldn't do to get into a battle of wills with this character over something so petty, especially when his own face throbbed in memory at Kaiba's fists colliding with it. He did not especially crave another one. Seto shrugged in dismissal.

"What does that Moto runt have to do with any of this? And, how exactly did you ...get into my mind, if that's what's really happening?"

Yami hesitated, his hand venturing to his injured rib, and blanched at the interested focus of Seto's eyes on the wound. Oh, yes, he had happened to jab it earlier, and was responsible for provoking an extremely painful reaction.

"Would you prefer that I tell you, or show you? I noticed that you were slightly unnerved by my attempt to show you through the memories themselves, and I-"

"Excuse me all the hell for not being used to having flashbacks that aren't my own running through my head. Screw that. Just tell me and save me the headache." Seto yawned, as he cupped a chin in one hand, and stared down at Yami, who began to define what he could not even begin to fathom, in the hopes that maybe his disbelieving listener would accept some of it.

The Puzzle was still cradled in his trembling fingers, and he had been twisting it from palm to palm, running them over the intricant designs with seeking hands, slashing his blood over the points, in some atonement, in some vague hope that it would ressurect the one he murdered. The Puzzle's muted gold was still the same dead bronze that it had been for the last few hours, dead as the body that was still draped in the sheets in the living room. Yugi had fallen into some benumbed stupor, where time just froze into a trickling, searing river that swept him further and further away from everything he held dear...

And now that he was coming back to himself, some vague, instinctive awareness, and not that imprisoning malice that he was previously snared in...he had no defense against the absolute horror and guilt that Yami had suffered so much at his own hands, only to bleed and die...

Yugi was not sure if he was insane, or if anything but insanity would drive him to anything besides suicide. He shivered again, gripping his hands against his arms in a futile embrace against the pain.

He was interrupted by the abrupt crack of his bedroom door being flung open, and his grandfather's pale, burning face, numbingly white as the old man only choked and lurched like a puppet being jerked by the string. With a fleshy hand, he gestured downstairs, his eyes sparkling with some mirth that seemed mad, given the circumstances.

"Yugi, get up! I don't know how it's possible, but Seto Kaiba just brought Yami to the shop! He's alive, my boy!" 


	10. Fumbling

Author's Note: I apologize for the lack of updates. There's been a lot of things going on in my life that has cut into my time and creativity with this story, and I've neglected it quite a bit. I know that in the previous chapter, I wrote that Yami had been seperated from Yugi for a few weeks. Actually, the time frame would be around 4 to 5 days. Sorry for the confusion!

Seto noted with scowling disbelief the look of overwhelming pain and fear that crumpled the nutcase's proud, stern face, into a twisted mask of anguish. Seto, and a sense of compassion were as linked as oil and fire, Seto knew. But, something compelled him to bite back the scathing remark. As irritating as this situation was, and as intrusive on his life, Seto's legendary egotism was largely a myth, and he earnestly did not seek to willingly wound for the hell of it. It was petty, and beneath him, of course. But, from the raw brutality he had been subjected to by his cruel step-father, and recoiling at the memory of how much it had hurt to be crushed for no reason, other than it was permitted...was just wrong.

And it was that belief that kept him from chewing on Yami's tortured hesitation, but it was not enough to override his scowl, or the fingers latching on Yami's effort to haul him forward into the Gameshop. Seto was suprised to feel both the taunt muscles underneath the shaking wrist, and the fact that attempting to force Yami into moving forward was like attempting to haul a mountain from its roots. Granted, he was almost as much a runt as Yugi, but he had the same wiry, sinuwed muscles that made him much stronger than he appeared to be. Clearly, there would be no moving him forward. Seto dropped the deathgrip on his arm with a deepening frown of puzzlement.

"What is wrong with you? You wanted to see Yugi. We're here." Seto glared to see Yami's eyes and jaw fall open wide, the violet glazing over with an expression of absolute, transfixed terror, before he wrenched his eyes away, and stared up at Kaiba, rather stupidly.

"We shouldn't be here." The answer was soft, and anguished, as Yami's body convulsed in a bone-gripping tremor. "I apologize...I've made a horrific mistake in coming here."

Yami bowed his head, put his shaking palms to his tearing eyes, and bolted, only to collide violently with Seto. The billionaire was almost knocked on his rear, and staggered backwards to avoid an inelegant sprawl across the wilting grass. He gave Yami a look of sheer venom, before grinding out between his clenched teeth, "And you're going to make an even bigger one if you don't grow a spine and talk to the damned Motos! I didn't waste my time in driving you out here only to have you melt down on the front lawn like a sniveling, spoiled brat! I have no intention of having some weird ass-ghost floating around in my head any longer than I have to! Now, get a spine, be a man, and talk to Yugi!!"

Yami wrenched his limb out of Seto's punishing grip, twisted his whole body out of reach, as he spun on his heel, in another effort to bolt. Yami yelped in shock and blinding panic as he felt his collar being abruptly yanked at least two feet in the air, as Seto hauled him upward with a grunt, and proceeded to shake the hell out of him. Yami's stomache and wounded rib collided with the concrete, as Seto dropped him on the front step in one crushed heap, and a disgusted shake of his head.

Seto saw his face go alabaster as he raised trembling, sprawled arms out in a futile attempt to rise from the blinding pain of his now reinjured rib, and inwardly flinched at the sharp, undeniable whimper of pain that emerged unwillingly from Yami. 

It was at that horrific moment that the front door flew open with a loud bang. Seto Kaiba suddenly found himself face to face with a very perturbed Solomon Moto, who took one look at Yami's wilted hurt, and Seto's raised arm. The old man growled like a bulldog, waddled forward, and Seto promptly found himself on the recieving end of a very efficicently wielded broom, as Solomon Moto squawked in outrage, and proceeded to nearly blind Seto with the strawed end to his eyes.

Seto snarled, lunged forward, and snatched the broom away, and broke the wooden handle over one knee, sending splinters showering down his freshly pressed trousers, before he flung the sticks down, and hissed out, "If you dare lay one more hand on me, old man, I'll beat you senseless!"

Soloman slank back with narrowed eyes, as he sent Yami a disbelieving, troubled glance, lanced with wonder. "My boy,...it is hard to believe that it is really you, Yami." He whispered softly, offering his arms wide in a welcoming embrace.

Yami started trembling again, staring at those outstretched arms as if Solomon were welding knives, before he shook his head, in tears. "Understand, please...please understand, sir. I can't stand that..not yet..."

Solomon dropped his arms, hurt and understanding glittering in his eyes, as he nodded in sad acceptance.  
"I understand, my boy, why you would never want to be touched again."

There was a huff of dismissal that made Yami turn around, as Kaiba groused, "And where is your twin? Isn't Moto the whole reason why we're here?"

Solomon glared up at Kaiba, with a scowl just as dark as Kaiba's. "And what does any of this have to do with you, young man?"

Seto's eyes bulged, as he jabbed a finger at Yami. "That freakshow has been running around in my skull for the past few days, and claims that Yugi is his...host."

Solomon grunted, with a curt nod, before finally stepping aside his door. "Perhaps explanations would be easier if we were all seated inside where it's warm."

"Besides, Yami...I'd like a word with you before you see Yugi...There's a rather disturbing developement that you might need to be aware of."

Seto groused with irritation behind them, as he snapped, "And what sort of 'disturbing developement' could possibly be more bizzare than what I've experienced, old man?! Enough dancing around the bull. I want answers!"

Solomon only slid knowing, narrowed eyes up to Kaiba, and shook his head. "Oh, don't worry your big head too much, my boy. You'll see soon enough. And I'd advise you to keep your complaints down, please. Yugi is sleeping at the moment, and I don't want him disturbed until I have some answers. Is that clear?"

To his suprise, Kaiba found himself almost meekly nodding at the old man's wagging finger to his face, with another scowl. Yami had gone pale and trembling even more, and Solomon sincerely worried the poor boy was going to faint right there. With a warning glare to Kaiba, Solomon stepped aside, and allowed them admission to the humble living room.

To Seto, it was an inconvient necessity to hopefully be endured for a bit, but for Yami, it was torture. He nearly shrieked in panic when Solomon's gentle hand brushed the back of his neck, and he sank bonelessly into the familiar cushions of the couch..the same couch that Solomon had nursed him through his first panic, the same couch where he had perched less than 5 days ago, in the hope of recovering from his wounds, less than ten feet from the location where Yugi had tried to stomp his life out. So much suffering, and so much hope lost. Another safe haven torn from his trembling his fingers. Yami's searching eyes fell on Seto's frown, that was gathering force like a thundercloud, as he looked both confused, and condensendingly calculating.  
His brow furrowed as Yami only stared up at him.

Truth be told, to see that brittle, haunted look in his eyes, and that slump of sheer despair made Seto extremely uncomfortable, and stirred what little empathy he had enough to attempt to offer some reassurance. With a sigh heaved out with extreme relunctance, Seto begrudgeingly bestowed the closest thing to comfort he could come up with.

"Quit looking like such a whipped puppy, runt! This situation is going to be over with shortly."

Yami only troubled himself to raise a non-plussed eyebrow, and comment apathetically, "Is that so, Kaiba? Since you seem to be so knowledgable about the odd peculiarities about our situation, perhaps you may demonstrate your brilliance more than your ego and tell me exactly how you plan on solving this problem.  
Or, do you fully understand the ramifications of what is going on, yet?"

Seto only shook his head, bitterly. "I don't understand any of this. I don't get how the hell I wound up with a spirit running around in my head, I don't get how I got involved in any of this! The only thing I ever did was have a face that resembles the bastard who killed you, and give Yugi a ride home one day! How in the hell did it spiral to this level?!"

Yami only slumped miserably, and curled into himself even more. "I don't know, Kaiba. And for that, I'm sorry." His soft answer was waved away by Seto's hand, as he sat back in the chair.

"Spare me the dramatics. If your apologies fixed any of this, it would be fixed by now, don't you think?"

Yami just curled into himself further, with a sigh. "Then do me a favor, and desist in speaking of this subject. I know the damage that's been done to you. I know the damage that I've sustained, and seem to bring to everybody around me. And I have no idea how to stop it, so, kindly shut the hell up about it, to quote you, please."

He heard Seto's grunt, and then the remarkably kind answer, for Seto, anyway, "You didn't damage me that much. Don't flatter yourself. If you give up now...then I'll be stuck in this situation, and I really don't want that."

Solomon had watched their exchange with misplaced amusement, before he cleared his throat for their attention. Little did he know that Yugi had awoken from his uneasy slumber, and had forced himself to come down the stairs at the sound of Yami's voice.

It was not brutality of a fist that made Yugi's heart ache so much. He would have prefered Yami's unleashed rage in all its cleansing fire to burn him away completely, than stand there, in rooted swoon, and forced to stare at Yami's reaction to his sudden appearance.

Yami was stricken with blinding, choking fear, as the tidal wave of memories, and suffering all swirled in their cruel chaos, churning over every rational thought and drowning him in too much sensation on a level that was far deeper than mere pain.

Yami would have been grateful if he had fainted on the spot, or died in earnest, if it meant finally being out of the clutches of such terror and hopeless despair. Anything would be kinder than being ressurrected into this tormenting nightmare that not even death could free him from.

Seto's all-too perceptive ceralian eyes narrowed, as he saw the torment radiating from the two, Yugi stricken by guilt, and sorrow, and Yami paralyzed by the memories of pain he honestly did not know how to handle at the moment. The old man seemed to be equally transfixed, and caught in the collective stupor that his two freakshow grandkids had so readily allowed, and it sickened Seto, more than disgusted him.

With uncertain resolve, Seto straightened, and strode to the center of the pervervse circle, with a grunt.  
"As much as I hate to intrude on this loving little reunion of the runt family, all of this pathetic reminiscing is detracting from the time we have to find a timely solution of getting this spirit out of my head, and ending my involvement in this sick little affair. And, Yami, if you are as old as you claim, then surely you should understand that sh-- happens, and you need to grow the hell up and move on!" 


	11. Awareness and Its Anguish

It was the ominous, brooding undercurrent that alarmed Seto, as he saw Yugi startle as if he were stabbed, and blurt out, "Kaiba, get away from him! He's going to hurt you!"

Seto gave Yugi a scathing look, opened his mouth to dismiss the foolishness of it, only to have the old man grunt, and tug him away, with a quaking, gnarled finger pointing at Yami.

"I don't know how, but...the mind link is back, Kaiba." Yugi whispered, in a quaking voice. "And Yami...he's so angry...I don't know what he'll do..."

Seto snorted. "Please, Yugi, spare me the dramatics. As many times as this freakshow has been murdered, don't you think there's a point where he should make a reasonable attempt to get the hell over it and move along to something else?"

Yugi paled even more, and was startled to see Kaiba blanche at the sheer hatred that now radiated through both of their minds from Yami's broken and increasingly shattered thoughts. The shards of reason fell like broken glass over them, and Yami's twitching, bowed face, and eyes storming over into demonic rage and grief made Kaiba's heart clench in his chest. He felt Yugi's warning hands on his shoulder, as the old man gripped both Seto and Yugi, and dragged them away from Yami.

"I don't know what has come over you, young man, but I don't like it. I know that you have been through much, Yami, but that's no excuse to scare everybody. Now, kindly calm down and please tell me what's troubling you so much." Solomon's little speech was ignored by all.

Yami turned to Kaiba with a snarl, the rage making fire sear its way through his gut, the icy despair freezing his heart into comforting numbness, as he slid shaking fingers to the concealing collar about his neck with a sadistic grin, and a broken, mad chuckle.

Hands working at the leather bindings, and his evil smirk only widening into outright glee, Yami flung the collar away, and even Seto found himself gulping and backing away when he saw that glint of something dark and searching and hungry churning in those narrowed, reddening eyes.

It was only confirmed by the shard of perverted hurt and revenge that suddenly flaired into Seto's mind, with a depth so deep it nearly brought him to his knees. With a wince, Seto shivered at the familiar invasion of Yami's storm-dark thoughts blending into his own, and nearly vomited at the madness and the murderous intentions...Sure, Seto was definitely not a nice guy, but the torture, and the images of dismemberment and blood made him sick.

He heard Yugi's gasp of horror as he paled even more, eyes and mouth growing wide, as he jerked his head from Seto to Yami.

He heard Solomon's paternal soothing as he actually reached for Yami's tense, twitching shoulder, as Seto snatched his grip away, instinctively, and smoothly glided between them, his cerilaian eyes narrowed and growing colder as more of Yami's thoughts trickled down through his own. Seto flinched when he felt Yami's hand grip his shoulder, and blanched when he saw the tears, as well as the pleading hiss that Yami choked out...

"Away...get yourselves away!!" It was faint, weak as the star's last glimmer before it was overcome with the abyss, as Yami weakly shoved Kaiba away.

Seto only smirked at him, while allowing a troubled glance to the stricken runts behind him, who were unaware that he was now reading Yami's tormenting thoughts.

"And if I don't?" The question was pompously spoken, but Seto's eyes were narrowed, and troubled, as Yami only stared up at him, his eyes filling with sorrow, and so much raw suffering that even Seto flinched.

Yami's breath seemed to die in his throat, as he swallowed down the urge to latch fingers onto Seto's pale throat, tear out his flesh until he lay dying and hurting and helpless, place his gleeful feet over Yugi's tremoring body and grind his heels into bone and tissue until the bloody aftermath was enough to erase the searing, futile dying that he seemed to live every moment, the madness that threatened to take him, the darkness, with all its hunger, lapping at his decaying heart like a rabid dog...

And Yami's last remnant of control broke forth from the darkness, like a bloated body escaping the river's dredges, as he shrieked and clutched his head, only a hint of the internal war between the dark and the light pivoting with a volital jerk, and nearly collapsing again, only to be anchored to the air around him by Kaiba's demanding, steadying grip on his arm.

Yami's very bones twitched beneath Kaiba's fingers as he tightened the grip to outright, crushing, focusing pain, as Yami's other hand briefly clasped over his own in gratitude.

"Thank you." The tormented whisper was harsh, and spoken only through his thoughts and shining eyes, as Yami convulsed instinctively, as his eyes slid shut, and he put his head in quivering hands.

"Please. Get yourselves away from me! I don't know how much longer I can hold any of this in..."

Yami raised eyes full of fire, and a mouth curled into a broken smirk, when they fell upon Yugi.

The ressurrected memories of Seth's knives, and Yami's stranglehold, and Yugi's cruel torture all overflowed into Seto's mind as Yami allowed him to see what was going to happen, in the only way he had left before it came to completion.

Seto's jaw actually clenched, as he glided one step backwards, panting, and overwhelmed with the tidal wave of sick thoughts that invaded him so cruely, as Yami only trembled, and ventured to ask, in a voice that was so harsh, and brittle, that it sounded like he was growling, or sobbing...

"Now do you see, Kaiba? Do you understand?!"

Seto bit his lip, grimly nodded his head. "I do." His voice was silken ice, as he abruptly spun on one heel towards Yugi, and Solomon.

"If you want to live, you'll follow me. Leave the freakshow here before he starts one of his meltdowns."

Yami heard Solomon's grunt of disagreement, something muttered about not leaving a boy to suffer so much, and then Yugi's nearly panicked squeak as he shot another troubled glance at Yami. Footsteps falling away from him, Kaiba's regal stride, Solomon's comfortable shoes, and Yugi's lighter scampering away.

Bitter, expectant silence, so hungry, so dark...so consuming, as Yami slid to nearly fetal position, and started to weep. His mind was shattered, his heart languidly beating, and every scar had felt like it was torn afresh into his skin as he swooned somewhere in the hellish limbo of memory, and delusion, and a reality he was no longer sure even existed.

Seto kept his uneasy vigilance, resolute and straight-spined as a soldier at attention as he kept glancing at the oak door that stood between them and Yami. By now, he had expected to hear breaking glass, or the smashing of various objects, but the overwhelming silence that filled the small room that Solomon had insisted on barricading themselves in was harder to endure than anything else Seto could fathom. And, from the tattered fragments of thoughts that Seto was able to detect from Yami, the poor lunatic was hardly in a state of mind to carry out any harm. Indeed, if the strange impressions that filtered through the mindlink were any indication of the truth, Yami was huddled on the floor and sobbing like a wounded animal. Hardly a threat, but definitely alarming.

Seto startled when Yugi unexpectedly brushed his arm, and he pivoted with a frown. "What?" Seto barked, irritably.

"You have the mindlink too, Seto?" Yugi ventured timidly, as Seto sighed.

"Whatever the hell you call the thing. Yes, I do." The begrudging admission was met with Yugi's wide eyed wonder, as Seto fought the urge to vomit in disgust.

"Then..maybe we can help him?" The timid suggestion was piped up, as Yugi placed a tormented grip on the door.

Seto only folded his arms, and whispered, coldly, "What good would that do? Isn't his inabilities to deal with his issues the thing that's causing all of this mental breakdown garbage? We're locked in a broom closet, Yugi, in fear of a runt who somehow manages to send us mental images of our own demise at his hands.  
Exactly how do you propose using the same thing to make any of this weirdness even slightly more endurable?"

Solomon groused like a bulldog, again, as he lay hands on both Yugi and Kaiba, with a kindly smile.

"Now, now, my dear boy. Don't let that legendary egotistical streak keep you in this broom closet any longer than necessary. Aren't you interested in getting out of this situation as soon as possible, Kaiba? And really, dear boy, what have you got to lose?"

Seto rubbed his forehead. The old man, regrettably, did have a good point.

"Runts!" He squawked in growing alarm at the stricken Motos, "What the hell is wrong with you?! Get away from him!!" 


	12. When It All Falls Away

Okay, for some much needed background into this pyschotic ranting. Since this is the sequel to another story, (A Proud and Bitter Crown) there are a few continuations of that storyline that may not be apparent to those who have not read Crown. In Crown, Yami was sacrificed and sealed away to keep the shadow games from taking over Egypt in the Puzzle. Yami's two most trusted friends at the time were his Priestess Isis, and Priest Seth, (or Set, I have seen him named both, but in this story, he is Seth, and not a reincarnation of Seto). Isis intended for the dear Pharoah to be sealed away into a sort of embryotic stasis, to be awakened when his time came to go to the afterlife. Seth screwed things up quite a bit by disrupting the sealing ceremony by slashing Yami's throat open, which not only caused Yami a great deal of physical suffering, and scars, but a lot of emotional aftermath to deal with as well. There were a few bloody confrontations between Yami and Seth afterwards, but most were nothing more than delusions the Puzzle subjected Yami to...and to further complicate things.. Seth, in an effort to make things right, agreed to take on some of Yami's suffering so that the poor spirit wouldn't have to hurt so much. Apparently, it failed considering the hell that Yami is living through...or not...

Finally, for the re-introduction to one of my favorite characters of the Yugioh saga, Isis. In Crown, Isis is Yami's closest friend, and the one person who has not betrayed him. She ruled over Egypt after Yami's departure, and served as sort of a guardian angel for him throughout the story. Now, there are some touching moments, and some tender ones between the two, and I suppose, if you squint hard, you may find a hint of romantic overtures. However, as I have stated over and over again, I am not a romance writer, and I hate all attempts I have made at doing so. In this story, there are good friends, and nothing beyond that. And, yes, I butchered the first part of this chapter, simply because I wrote the main point of it already, and I hate fleshing out a useless background. Please forgive me if I confuse people even more. Those who wanted less Yami torture may hunt me down and beat me as they wish.

It was the cloying grasp of cold, slimed flesh against her own, as she jerked her head up in alarm, her fiery blue eyes widening with shock, then warily narrowing as she knelt to see the ghoulish apparation that lay pleading at her feet.

"My Lady!" Seth's choked squeal was emphasized by another desperate tug at her sleeve.

"Seth? What is it? Why are you-" She was silenced by the sudden flair of warning pain that arched across her neck as the Milinum neckless arched in fire and melted against her flesh in torpid ice. Dead as a corpse's grasp about her. Isis shuddered, forced down the scream, as Seth panted, and instinctively curled protective fingers about his throat. Stricken by the malestrom of suffering that engulfed him, and then the horrific understanding, he shivered, as he drew away hands covered with blood at his throat. His eyes had lost their glazed look of animalistic raving, no longer holding the fractured pieces of his mind, or cradling the broken pieces of a heart that did not exist any more. For one sickening moment, Isis nearly shrieked at Seth's ressurrection, before he only jerked towards her sharply, his reddened fingers arched high, as he whispered,

"My lady, you must go to him, now. My lord the Pharoah is hurting!"

Grimly, Isis rose. "What do you mean? How could you possibly know that-"

Seth splayed the crimson digits before her, with a sad smile. "My lady, he bleeds as I bleed. We're bound by the wound that I inflicted on him. He is not healed, my lady, and if you allow this continue...he'll only turn into the monster he saved me from remaining"

It was so sad, how the fate of one could be reduced to so many gold fragments, or eerie how a soul and an existance could be severed, yet preserved in the glittering remains of the ancient Puzzle that Isis palmed from one slender hand to the other. For five thousand years, the cursed thing lay slumbering, as unnoted as the dust that gathered and eventually concealed its memory in the same dead tombs that once held the so-called god-kings. Isis bit back the snarl and the urge to hurl the glittering Pyramid against the wall and crush it to nothing more than specks of existance, that she would fling to the wind, fragmented beyond the ability to rise and hurt ever again. It was nothing more than wishful thinking, she admitted the truth with a bitter, remorseful smile. Even after all of this time, Yami's departure, and the injustice he suffered for so long made her heart ache. In one vicious way, she was just as trapped as he, unable to rest until the horrific thing was made right, and Yami was free.

Her flesh recoiled and her spirit within her shuddered from her very core when she ghosted one slender palm over the dagger-sharp point of the Puzzle's corner, and she hissed in pain at the deep cut that now glided over her palm. Scarlet blood flamed over the muted gold of the Puzzle, and Isis shivered in revulsion to feel the ancient power's hunger as it slowly crept around her. With a prayer, she closed her eyes, and allowed herself to be transported across the arc of time itself to the aid of her oldest friend.

Even the simple touch nearly sent him into hysterics. It was too overpowering, too violating, too much to try to comprehend, or ignore, and yet so anchoring in its anguish. Pain, he felt, and knew without having to go through all the mental gymnastics of comprehention. It was a steady tether to reality, to his flesh, to what was real, and now.

And, yet, Yami grit his teeth, grunted, and desperately writhed away from the touch on his shoulder, with a whimpering plea. Instinctively, he tensed anew against the avalanche of blind fear, of helpless paralysis, and hopeless victimization that would eventually force his too overwrought nerves and sinews and so fallible flesh to yield into numb torpor, either induced by the the sheer weariness of maintaining such a hellish, helpless vigilance against what he could not defend himself against, or the sweet release of death.

Timid fingers ghosted over the bangs that were dripping wet and smeared across his sweating, quivering forehead, and he shrieked, muted again, but sagged in relief to feel the hated hand leave his skin alone for a few precious seconds. He closed his eyes, panted, and let out another helpless sob.

Tears fell, wet and chilled and glimmering from his closed eyes, burning their shining paths through the sweat that haloed his contorted face.

And then, an angelic voice sang his name from the depths, infused his shattered heart with light, and only succeeded in terrorizing him even more.

Isis's eyes flew open wide, in sudden horror and understanding, as she placed quaking palms on Yami's forehead, chanting a spell softly, as golden light radiated from her slender fingers, and gently engulfed Yami's spasmodic form. Faintly, through the haze of red pain, icy torment, past the layers of scars, and raw pain, Isis finally found a remnant of Yami's spirit that was rational enough to seek answers from, but its once fierce glow was choked down to a dying ember, slowly being swallowed by unrelenting despair.

Yami could only tremble in answer, too stricken to even attempt speech, nerves too brutalized to reach, heart too shattered to even fathom something as alien as being healed. For five thousand years, he had screamed, and wept and bled. What good had any of it done?!

His tortured whimper, and the instinctive, bone-shuddering jerk of his whole body away from her gentle hands nearly broke her heart, but it was searing silent plea of his eyes that succeeded in scarring her.

He sobbed, unresisting, unflinching, his muscles slack from exhaustion as he submitted in anguished, indifferent surrender. It was hopeless. It was useless. And all he had to show for his sacrifices were the scars that adorned his neck, having his life torn away from him at the hands of those who he once trusted, and five eons of being ressurected and broken again and again in a golden hell that he had willingly chosen, so long ago. And, underneith the sleeping incantation of Isis, Yami's coiled body suddenly went limp as water, as the mortal rest engulfed his flesh as comforting as a friend's embrace. Isis saw his searching eyes force their way open, his hazy gaze sharpen in momentary understanding, as one trembling hand groped for her own in one pleaing reach. Yami's questioning whimper of disbelief and longing only brought her familiar smile to her lips as she held his hand in heavenly reassurance that she was real, and she was here through all the delusions and suffering.

With a caress that felt like light itself swathing over him, Yami breathed a single word, "Thank you"  
And, then, unnoticed as passing snow, he quietly slipped into the deep,deep sleep, his hand still coiled in hers, but the fingers growing lax, and the tension yielding to rest. With a sad smile, Isis tenderly lowered her old friend into a prone position, laying Yami out with reverance, as she resumed her silent vigil over the broken ruler's nightmares.

"What did you do to him?!" Isis recoiled under the piercing weight of Yugi's accusation, as he stared down at Yami, stricken, before raising burning eyes towards her.

"I have done nothing but grant him a temporary peace, young master. Surely you can agree it would be sheer cruelty to leave him in such a state."

The silken words were spoken indifferently, but Yugi could see the overwhelming sorrow as Isis draped a comforting hand over Yami's bangs, and allowed her hand to linger on the king's forehead.

Seto snorted behind them. "I believe this magic maker gave Yami the equivliant of an Egyptian Valium, Normally, I consider sympathy to be cheap, and useless. But, Yugi-" Seto's voice grew soft, and oddly troubled, as he swept over Yami's limp form, before forcing himself to continue, "he's been through hell and back...apparently more than once. I don't know why the hell I'm even bothering myself about this, but even I have my limits. To force any more on him is just sick."

Seto's cheeks flamed when he saw the absolute shock reflected on their faces, as he shook his head in disgust.

"Since when did you inherit anything resembling human decency, Kaiba?" Yugi's soft queery was laced with disbelief, as Seto only gave him a sneer with no mirth.

"About the same time that you thought it acceptable to subject your better half here to what amounts to nothing less than torture."

Seto's bitter observation was emphasized with a darkening scowl. "You can play as many mind games as you want to deny this, Moto, but it's blatantly obvious that he's no longer a threat. He can't even move, and I don't even want to speculate about what sort of damage has been done to his already questionable mental capabilities, not to mention the physical wounds. I'm not a doctor, but I'm fairly certain that having nearly a foot slashed out of his throat is hardly condusive to his good health."

With a relunctant sigh, Seto forced himself to peer at Isis, and grunted out, "Miss?" for her attention.

Isis stiffened, but raised eyes that held far too much expectation and horrible knowing for Seto to delude himself into the comforting notion that she was not as mentally unstable as he hoped...or anything that would provide an explanation besides all this ancient Egyptian crap...

"Yes, Master Kaiba?" Her soft reply was spoken with wry amusement, as she craned her neck to peer up at him, her saphire eyes as self-composed as his own.

"If his..." Seto grimaced with a frustrated gesture fluttering over the jagged, gaping hole in Yami's throat, as he tried to form an appropriate word,...slash? cut? mortal death blow?

All of them seemed to be so cheapening of the horror that the poor spirit endured.  
Seto grunted in annoyance at his own distracting sentiments, and huffed in effort to try again.

"If this wound was inflicted nearly five thousand years ago...should it not have adequet time to...close up?"

Isis only stared up at him, sadly, with a weary shake of her head, before replying. "There are some wounds, Master Kaiba, for which, there is no healing."

Yugi's blanch of pain startled them both, as his tears rose. "You mean...Yami's going to be like this forever?!"

"What sort of bulls--- allows that sort of repayment for a sacrifice?! Didn't this freak lay his life down to save his country? Wasn't that the reason why he agreed to ...die in the first place?!" Seto's nostrils flared wide, as he thundered out the accusations.

Isis sighed, gently, as she rose, gracefully. Even with that tragic twist of her lips as she soothed Yami's hair once more, her serenity was eerily untouched by the suffering.

"It is atonement, my friends, that he suffering for."

Seto's eyes narrowed. "Atonement is only necessary if somebody is suffering in somebody else's place. This is just senseless torture."

Isis's reply was cool, but she gazed at Seto with compassion. "So it may seem, Master Kaiba. Permit me the liberty of an explanation before you are so hasty in your condemption, if you please."

Seto gave her a bitter smirk. "Go for it. This should be good."

Allow me a moment to explain, please. It is not punishment, but atonement. Yami is not suffering for wrongs he committed, regardless of what his mutilated memories and that vindictive Puzzle may have forced him to believe."

Seto's scowl only deepened, as he groused, flatly, "I don't understand."

"At the risk of blasphemy or offense, allow me to illustrate with a concept that you will find familiar. You are aware of the crufixifion of Christ?"

Seto's eyebrows climbed high and then disappeared into his dark bangs, as Yugi gave a helpless shrug that answered for both of them.

"Umm..yes, we know about that, but I'm afraid that Seto and I don't...really understand where exactly you're going with this, Miss Isis."

"Very simple. When the Son rose from His grave, He still bore the wounds in His side from the spear, and the scars from the nails. It was only after seeing those wounds that there was proof enough for some to accept Him for what He claimed to be. It is a transending truth that surpasses human mortality, Master Kaiba. Something, that even now, you refuse to acknowledge. In doing that, you are essentually forcing Yami to bleed again." She said, with a pointed glare at Seto.

Seto snarled out," Exactly what was I supposed to do?! Believe that I was going mad, or somehow succumb to the belief that I had an ancient spirit running around in my skull? It doesn't make sense!"

"But denial of the truth does not erase it, Seto. Look at how much you suffered yourself to maintain the cherished illusion to maintain that you were 'normal', even if you had to parade about wearing a mask for the benefit of people whom you care nothing for. It nearly destroyed you! Do you understand that your...collapse was not triggered by Yami's forcing you to believe, but your refusal to?"

"And do you understand that I had no choice in any of this, either?! Granted, nobody slashed my throat open, and I wasn't trapped in some Egyptian junk jewery, but he infested my brain, took over my body, and nearly killed me in the process. Once his damn issues are resolved, and he's released, he waltzes away to a peaceful eternity, while we pathetic mortals are stuck with the scars, and the aftermath of it all. Maybe Yugi added to his problems, I don't know. But, it's not a destiny either one of us chose, and to hear you sit there and sneer at me for being less than pleased is pure and absolute bullsh--. At least Christ, if you believe that, went back to Heaven, and left the unwilling and the unaccepting alone. Your Egyptian gods seem to be nothing but more than cruel, petty dictators who f with mortal lives for no other reason than the fact that they can. Now..what in the hell are you going to do to end this?!" 


	13. Corrupted

He lay deep in the shadow's swooning, limbs seeming to go from living, veins pulsing with sensation, heat and life, to unyielding rock, and unmoving mountains. Such a paralysis should have rendered him beyond the limits of terror, and the vulnerabilty should have made his shattered nerves flinch, recoil, summon enough will, at least to twitch in opposition. His eyes should at least conjure up enough pain to shed a tear, shouldn't they? It was oddly comfortable, this poisoned serenity, this absolute liberation from giving a damn about anything any more.

His scars had been reopened, and remained unhealed, the still living hurt beneath them finally, mercifully severed from the torment of feeling any more. And for that, he was perversely grateful

Isis had done a masterful job of forcing his disconcerted thoughts into submission, of overflowing every pain and fear into one dark, final swoon that dragged him willingly into the depths with no resistance to the drowning, if it meant he was no longer tormented by the need to breathe. He did not know if this was death. Nor did he care, any more. It was far better than the constant war he fought with his poisoned thoughts, betraying emotions, and the heart that he masochistically left open for the breaking. Idly, he ran an indifferent finger over the length of his neck, without opening his eyes, and flinched at the warm, searing heat of his blood, the tattered flesh hanging in ribbons, and the cold, glistening hardness of the neckbone he could feel through the hole. Wearily, he shook his head, with a chuckle.

Had Yugi finally succeeded in severing his existance from the world? Had the Puzzle? Or had Seto, with his calculating cruelty, and vast resources finally overcome whatever magic guarded him, and simply cast him out of the world? He felt far too serenely indifferent for any of those possibilities. It was dark, but peaceful. He was bleeding, but not suffering. Numbly accepting of all things, but not tortured by the fear of what they may become. Such a thing could only be the work of Isis. Indeed, he held fingers before his eyes and allowed a sad smile at the faint, golden glow

that still radiated from where her soothing hands had cast him so gently into the slumber, and not into the vicious aftermath that the others were decidingly dealing with. While he was caught in that tortured limbo of darkness and light, each warring with equal hunger, as he felt himself fracturing under the enormous weight that no mortal could bear...Isis had swept him under in one peaceful slumbering spell, a shimmering, fragile promise made of gossamer ache, and hope, as he

so readily drank in the escape like a drowning man would inhale one more breath before yielding to the water...

Yami lingered, languidly for a few moments, an eerie, distant smile playing upon his lips. With no resistance at all, he yielded to the darkness once more.

From the sudden inhalation of breath from Isis's lips now twisted in alarm, to the sudden, revealing jerk of her entire flesh, Seto instinctively knew that something had gone horribly, horribly wrong.

She raised burning eyes to Kaiba's question that lingered unwelcomingly in the air between them, and saw the bone-deep cringe that flushed across his sharp features, and the equally alarmed eyes that suddenly swept downward over Yami's broken form that still lay cradled in her arms.

"No!" It was sharp negation, and horrified disbelief, tortured admission and a last desperate denial to keep her from breaking completely. With a scornful huff, and a perturbed scowl, Seto squatted beside them, two fingers hesitantly venturing over Yami's blood-slimed throat. Sifting through the gore, he jammed two fingers under Yami's chin, and waited for a pulse of some sort, before drawing his hand away, and distainfully wiping the blood on his boots. There was no pulse.

Seto was completely flumoxed by this. Granted, it was expected that Yami not even be alive with that horrible wound to his throat, but Yami hardly looked like he was in peaceful slumber. He looked like an empty corpse left behind. And, it made Seto sick.

"What the hell is going on now? Is he dead, or what?!" His irritated questions made Yugi clap a hand over his mouth in absolute horror, as he paled and trembled, while his grandfather draped comforting arms over the grief-twitching shoulders and began muttering soothing nonsense.

Isis gave no answer for a long moment, before she faltered, one hand groping at her necklace, the other one still protectively curled in Yami's, as she only whispered, "I do not know, Master Kaiba. I...I sense nothing of his spirit."

Indeed, the reverberating, mocking echo that thundered all the deeper in Yami's gaping absences was more alarming and heart-breaking than sensing his agony. There was indeed nothing but emptiness...dead, numbing, emptiness.

Yugi whimpered, as he twisted in Solomon's arms, "I don't feel him, either! It's more than him just shutting me out, it's like...he's never been there at all! My God, what have I done?!"

The squeal was torn out between the sobs, as Yugi only burrowed deeper into Solomon's shoulder, as Solomon lowered him onto the couch, still in the shelter of his steadying arms.

With a pointed grimace, he stared up at Isis, and Seto, as he continued to stroke Yugi's quaking back.

"Did you intend for this to happen, young lady? What exactly were you attempting when you put that ...spell on Yami, anyway?"

Isis paled even more, her mouth twisting in anguished guilt. "Master Kaiba...do you sense Yami's presence at all? A glimmer of existance or even blind hatred?"

Seto's scowl only deepened, as he crossed his arms, guardedly ,and stared down at her through eyes that were rapidly narrowing with all its characteristic chill...

"_This_ is not my problem to solve. _This_ is not something I even want to attempt to fix. My involvement ended the moment this...freakshow got out of my head, which he has. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a company to run, and my life to return to."

With that sneer still lingering after him, he glided coldly out of the store, leaving the tiny game shop in the distance, and his bitter thoughts growing even darker at the ruse he just pulled.

It was so quiet in the comforting dark of his room, as Kaiba wearily slid into the welcome refuge of his sheets, with a sigh, and an uncharacteristic slump. With a deep sigh, and not troubling himself to opening his eyes, Seto muttered to the dark walls of the room, and to the unseen prescence lingering once again in his head,

"Can you tell me what the f--- that little deception was supposed to accomplish? I think it's safe to assume that you broke Yugi beyond repair, and that old man...he's surely going to have a heart attack. That's a bit sadistic, even for my tastes."

He never saw the lithe form, gliding catlike in the corner, but he heard the deep velvet purr of satisfaction, the corrupted chuckle of mirthless laughter eerily laced with the hint of tears, as

Yami only shook his head.

"Do not tell me you are troubled with something so mundane as the breaking of a mind and a spirit of somebody you despise, Kaiba. It is completely out of your character to display somethng that resembles a heart."

Seto sneered in answer, "Has old age rendered you senile? Did you forget we share a mind now?  
Those sobs and pleading were real. Don't give me any bullsh-- to convince me otherwise. Besides-"

He raised an eyebrow with a bitter chuckle of his own, "If you were really intent on destroying Yugi, then what stopped you? You had that intention all along, Yami. I could _feel_ it. Despite all your pretenses, you had better come to grips with the fact that you're not the monster the Puzzle tried so hard to force you to be, Yami. Or else, you would have followed through on your plan to dismantle the runt piece by piece. Come on, Yami. Tell me. What held you back?"

Yami's smug grin fell away into troubled confusion, then outright torment. "I don't know." He whispered, softly uncertain, his eyes sliding up to Kaiba's warily, before they hardened into nearly ebony amythists.

"What held _you _back, Kaiba? Were it not for your interference, Yugi would be dead, and I'd be free."

"Don't flatter yourself." The snarl that emerged from the bed held no whimsical sarcasm, as Seto rose from his prone position to his full height with an enraged jerk.

"I'm not bound to fate like some helpless sacrifice, and I sure as hell don't give a damn if Yugi lives or dies, got it?!"

Yami recoiled, but allowed the smirk to return as he cocked his head to the side, with a considering tilt.

"Perhaps it is _you_ who should avoid retreating into your usual self-deception, _Seto."_ His name was spat out with visible scorn, as Yami menacingly ghosted one hand over his own throat, while his eyes and sneer seared the now quaking flesh of Seto's heaving neck.

"Understand this, Kaiba, if your egotism blinds you to all else. I am not bound by any morality, or limits, and I am more than capable of fulfilling the promise that those visions held. I am every bit the _monster_, now."

Few people could accuse Seto of being a coward, but he felt his suddenly fragile veneer of ego

crumble under the chill of Yami's voice as those emotionless, indifferent eyes narrowed and peered down at him, as one hand casually flicked over his throat again.

With a startled choke, Seto jerked away, with a hasty inhalation of breath, as he slank back, his back hitting the bedboard, and his aborted crawl disolving into outright trembling.

With narrowed eyes, and his hand lingering in the space between them, Yami let his arm fall, as he wilted, folded his arms across his chest, and only stared at Seto with weary sadness.

"If your only choices are needless, endless suffering for no reason, or hardening yourself to the point of that suffering ending, you would make the same choice."

Seto only breathed, cautiously, wary of the increasingly volital moodswings of homocidal glee, and now, despair, before he shrugged.

"But at what cost?"


	14. Fear

"But at what cost?"

There was nothing but ominous silence, and brooding, vicious waiting for an answer that could shatter everything

Yami held dear, if he hadn't already. Yami knew very well how much of a cost there might be, considering how

much he had already paid, in vain. Seto grimaced, but he himself did not know if it was from impatience of Yami's

silence, or his own fear of the answer.

They eyed each other, warily as wolves looking for the best way to bring down the prey by the throat.

Yami's eyes were brilliantly focused, narrowed to dagger points, as he glared at Seto with deceptive indifference, and

a scowl. Seto's own eyes had retreated to their usual safe haven of glacial scorn, his whole body forced into

an ironic posture of casual disregard. It was a convincing show, a good mask.

Seto's fist was clenched until the knuckles were white around the cold iron grip of the fire poker he had covertly

tucked under his blanket. It was a split decision, a hasty snatching of the only weapon he could find in a few precious seconds,

after Yami's demented glee at the horrifically bloody images, and the warning that curled in Seto's gut that he was

at the mercy of one who had shown he had no mercy left to give.

Unknown to Seto, Yami was well aware of his stashed weapon, and was almost amused at the desperation his

conniving had sunk to. Yami allowed himself a regal snort at the futility. Yami was perfectly able to dismember

Seto with a mere wish, a thought, an urge...but...

Yami shivered miserably, allowed a languid blink at Seto's sharp glance, pondering indifferently what the outcome

might possibly be. He didn't give a damn any more.

It was Seto's snarl from the increasingly unbearable tension of being held a prisoner, his fear of going insane,

and his loathing at being so violated, and stripped of everything that propelled the normally calm, and deliberate

CEO into rash, and stupid action.

Blindly, Seto swung the poker in a high, wide arch, the point aimed squarely at Yami's temple.

Yami did not even trouble himself with a complimentary flinch, or even to move his head away, merely hissed

under his breath, and smirked, sadly.

Seto's squawk of alarm brought forth a wan, smug shake of Yami's head, as Seto found himself abruptly, and viciously

flung through the air. Seto flew forward, and found his skull colliding with agonizing force against the stone of the

fireplace's mantle.Seto literally saw stars, bright, slamming flecks of light that swirled around his crippled awareness, and felt to the

very bones the icy ache that froze his skull with the thunder of the blow.

He was clearly stunned from the collision, from the sharp jerking of his muscles in one spasmodic twitch, the same futile

movement a cockroach might make after being crushed, Yami mused, indifferently.Seto's eyes lingered in vacant cloudiness for a long second, before they closed and Seto slithered downward, harmlessly, the poker clattering down beside him with a harsh clang that echoed throughout the room.

He lingered between the velvet darkness of surrender, the tearing abyss of welcoming oblivion sliding over him as Seto suddenly

jerked to life and snapped his head upward in a harsh shake. He grit his teeth and fought the urge to vomit at the dizzying sensation

of his own brain being so rattled from the stone.

The only sound was Seto's harsh breathing, as he trembled and struggled to stay awake. He startled involuntarily when Yami's

shadow glided in unwelcome view over his splayed legs.Vaguely, Seto felt the warm heat of blood trickling down the gash in his temple.

He placed a palm to his temple, and stared stupidly at the dark red that covered his shaking palm, before glancing up at Yami again.

With infinite sadness, and a mockery of concern, Yami knelt to caress Seto's hair away from the cold forehead with a colder chuckle.

Seto flinched in revulsion, as his eyes shot open, the confusion suddenly vanishing with the fiery awareness and the violating fury at the

touch. Seto jerked his head away, with a low growl, "Don't touch me, you monster!"

Monster...Yami's silken laughter was soft and eerily gentle as he allowed his fingers to drift down to Seto's quaking throat, lingering

as he felt the breath panted out frantically, warm against his icy fingers.

Seto's breath quickened as he tried to scuttle away on heels and elbows, when his tremoring limbs suddenly buckled beneath the weight

of the sudden, terrorizing paralysis.Seto's muscles went slack as cloth, and completely still, despite the fiery anguish and his screaming instincts twitching in the echoes of movement through his core. It amused Yami to watch Seto's tortured realization that he had been abruptly and absolutely stripped of any means to defend himself. He felt the cruel grin lighting his lips grow even darker at Seto's involuntary whimper of fear, and his eyes sliding shut as the shame of his own weakness.

For Yami, it was idle entertainment to watch Seto's futile fight to regain some control of his own flesh, the attempt of straining to even slide his fingers

into fists only resulting in a whine of absolute agony, shrill and sharp against the harsh confirmation that he was, indeed, unable to move at all.

It was the sum of every nightmare he had ever woke up from in a blind, frenzied panic, the cruelest torture that Seto could ever endure: being completely

at the mercy of somebody else, it was agony of enduring with no chance to defend himself, it was the stranglehold of terror and Yami was not

sure that Seto could handle any more without being broken beyond repair.

Yami watched Seto grit his teeth, and strain and groan in determination to unshackle his body from whatever force was keeping it so horrifically still,

fighting the situation with every bit of rage and fear he had at his disposal, which, Yami noted, was quite substantial. It was feeling the sickening contrast of

iron will in all its storms raging against the reality of broken flesh, the refusal of anything less than a snarl and renewed struggle, rising and ending with

Seto's defeated slump into exhaustion, after a few hours of warring so uselessly.

Seto's eyes seared up at Yami with open loathing, when Yami knelt so that Seto could see his smug satisfaction. Seto, however, did not seem to be as easily broken as Yami thought. Through the mind link, Yami could feel Seto's hatred radiating out from each word laced with a whispered hiss and all of Seto's

defiance...

_Do you enjoy flinging the fairy dust around because you couldn't take me on like a man?_

Yami smirked in vicious amusement at Seto's helpless rancor, as he merely sat back on haunches, and folded his arms, amused.

Seto sighed, eyes radiating with the promise of retribution, and Yami only troubled himself to poke Seto's side in a teasing tap. Seto's

seething hatred only grew hotter and more painful as the words spewed up like lava.

_Don't touch me! _

Yami's fingers never withdrew, merely draped over his forehead again, and lingered, and Seto screamed through the mindlink,

_Stop this at once! What the hell is wrong with you?!_


	15. Manipulation

"What is wrong with me? Come, come, my dear, blind, stupid Seto. I was tortured, and murdered by my most trusted friend who happens to resemble you.

I was sealed away as a sacrifice only to be resurrected into this eons old nightmare with no chance of escaping, and now, you just tried to kill me. Exactly

what makes you think that there could possibly anything wrong?" The words were purred out, as Yami's fingers resumed their mocking strokes against

Seto's forehead.

_STOP THAT!_ It was an angry bark, as Seto's eyes slid shut and he tried, again in vain, to jerk his head away from the unwelcome hand. While the touch in itself was relatively minor compared to the blows, Seto couldn't stand any hands on him without his permission. He _loathed _it with every bit of his held-back

fury, and Yami raised an eyebrow when he heard Seto mentally spit at him,

_Get your hands off of me, bastard!_

"Such an extreme reaction to such a mild provocation, Seto. Exactly what wounded you so much in the past that this minor event seems to be breaking you completely?"

Seto only gave him an icy glare, and another snarl, _It's hardly mild when you've rendered me paralysed. You were weeping at this point, remember?_

Yami certainly did. Indeed, Yami hissed as the scars at his neck itched in poisonous reminder. "Indeed, I do, Kaiba. Were you not listening when I told

you that my murder has a bit to do with my...lack of restraint, now?

Rather than calming him, the effect was horrendously provoking Seto's instinct to flee even more. His face contorted as Yami allowed some movement to 

trickle back, if only in amused observation to see Seto's terror rather than that slack face, completely still except for the burning eyes.

He finally whimpered in anguished submission , his tormented muscles growing even slack, his head lulling, his eyes filling with tears and slowly sliding shut.

Seto couldn't stand it! "Please..." he whispered, nearly in tears from the panic already threatening to drive him into hysterics.

"NO!" Seto's shrill shriek tore through the air as he trembled. Yami's smirk grew to see the frenzied fear, and the fracturing self-control falling away, leaving behind Seto's growing hysterics. It was pathetic.

He was stripped of his defenses, and held down by several hands he could not see. It was horrible to watch him crumble beneath the onslaught, his breath being panted out in short, frantic,gasps, until he felt like he was drowning,each hand leaving a trail of fire in its wake as each digit clamped down, and held him fast.His muscles went limp as water, flowing down the side of the bed, his tormented eyes nearly shut.

Seto's body tensed at the violation, his teeth chewing into his lips until they drew blood, his eyes slammed shut to block out some of the sensation.

_Please, please, stop..._

The muted whisper was almost sobbed as Seto dissolved and collapsed like the ice that was once his trademark. It was idle curiosity to Yami, to have the 

power to provoke and wound and to _see_ how much further into the darkness Seto could be driven without collapsing.

Held down, blinded by the glowering lights, nerves on fire, helplessly lurching in their tormenting instinct to flee as his limbs were anchored down by the torpor of stunned anguish, the invisible binds that held him so vulnerable, and the sliding war of reality and oblivion all the more blurred by the experience and Yami's cruelty, resurrected and breaking over him in dark waves of pain and fear echoing back like thunder in his own roaring ears as he tried so hard to even clench a fist...

_PLEASE!_

His mouth was open in a wordless scream, his eyes leaking helpless, humilating tears as he finally choked down the boulder that had lodged in his throat, the heavy, heavy breath that he fought so hard to heave out past his slack tongue and flaccid jaws.

It was the chokehold he could not break, the noose tightening over his heaving throat until the breath stopped, and he could inhale no more. Absently, a shadow worked its way into the crooked corner of Yami's mouth, as he shook his head and chuckled at Seto's torture. It was only after Yami saw the dark

abyss filling the deepest blue of Seto's eyes with emptiness that he released the stranglehold, and allowed the poor victim to breathe freely. Life exploded so viciously into Seto's lungs as he instinctively sucked in so much air that his chest swelled. New tears rose against the bloated pain of his expanded ribcage, followed by several lung-jarring heaves as Seto panted in the effort to lose some of the sickening dizziness that overcame everything else. Yami nodded bitterly when he saw the blue eyes sweep over him, and Seto visibly paled again.

There was no sound, except for the small grunt from Seto as his body went limp from exhaustion. His weary eyes closed, and Yami cocked his head to the side to hear the next breath.

It was a snarl, a whimper, and then...a sob. 

Seto had crumbled completely under the weight of the torture, and the crippling mental anguish of fractured reality. There was nothing to anchor any sort of pain on but the steady stream of hell that he had just endured. No end in sight to the torture, no healing for his wounds, and no answers that Seto could even begin to label his experience with. There was nothing left, nothing there, but Yami's glittering eyes and the mocking lingering on his forehead.

"One of the most bitter lessons I learned, dear Kaiba, was that it hurts so much more to be broken than it does to be indifferent. At one point, I wept and sobbed, and found it all to be in vain, sadly enough. Perhaps if my tears had been heeded, or my prayers answered...I would not be watching your agony

now with such relish over the power I have over you. It hurts to be a victim, doesn't it?"

His sobs were disgusting to himself, and he loathed the waterworks, and the amount of effort it would take to sort through the aftermath of the mental gymnastics later. As Yami wiped away another tear, Seto stared upward at Yami's satisfied smirk, and nearly gave him one of his own. That impulse was rapidly squelched by the sudden realization that Seto's weeping, writhing bullsh-- act would be in vain if it was discovered how false the act really was.

_How easily the egotistical are brought down when their delusions are catered to,_ Seto mused, fighting the urge to shiver under Yami's fingers, or break them.

He had to fight the rising smirk at the image of Yami's fingers snapping under his own. It would certainly be a fitting revenge for so much twisted torment, Seto

thought. Yami truly believed that he had broken Seto enough to be controlled? Seto mentally snorted at the thought.

It had been a most remarkable discovery for Seto to learn that his fractured mental shields had slowly recuperated enough to preserve some shred of his soul that was free and untainted from the control and the manipuluation. The moment itself had truly been an empithany from Heaven, and Seto had snatched that divine revelation and ran with it with all the promise of salvation it offered. It was a rather idle moment, when the spirit was distracted over his strange angst of Yugi. Seto had been subjected to the brooding silence, and endured the mental beratings without complaint, but when Yami's speculation of his own death started trickling through the mindlink, Seto found himself drowning in the dark thoughts, and almost vomiting with the images of Yami's blades and blood.

Instinctively, Seto had slammed down his end of the mindlink, and noted with acute interest Yami's flinch, then the wary fear in his eyes, before Seto hastily 

opened it again, pretending absolute indifference. When the distracted spirit resumed his own thoughts, Seto experimentally closed the barrier slowly and 

was shocked to notice that Yami's thoughts remained outside of his mind. Seto had fought the urge to gloat in triumph, preferring to secretly experiment when he felt brave enough to see as to what hidden advantage this unexpected weapon might have for him. Seto had a lot of faith in his own self-control, to the point of egotism. But, he was hardly stupid, and extremely leery of flaunting his new freedom, only to be shackled down again.

_He has to be a monster to subject any human being to their worst fears and laugh about it. That's nothing short of torture._

The fear still twisted in his gut, of course, but it never, never reached the blind meltdown of the exaggerated breakdown and the hissy fit that Seto just threw

There was no way that Seto could actually bring himself to _weep,_ unless it was for a desperate, desperate purpose. In this case..the deception came easily, the lies in the tears flowed freely from his yielding pride, and his liberation was that much closer with each step of the spirit's earnest belief that Seto was 

too broken to do anything less than be victimized and sob like a kicked dog. It disgusted Seto to no end to have to play that part up to the hilt, but swallowed pride was much easier to salvage if he was alive afterward to do so. The question that tore at Seto's mind, now, was how in the hell to stay alive until then?


	16. Fractured Ice

She seemed to be of shadow and moonlight, with her white garment, and the cascade of the obsidion hair that fell black and long down her bent back, as she winced at the fingers digging into her sleeve, seeking an answer she knew she could not give. Her grieved cerilian eyes, that held the depths of the sea and the sky in all their storms, narrowed into consideration as she shifted the limp corpse in her arms to peer up at Yugi.

The little one was obviously shattered by the horrific turn of events, and he kept circling the room in frantic pacing, only to hover over Yami's bleeding wreck, Yugi's eyes clouding over with tears at the realization anew that Yami was, for all intents, and purposes, dead. Yugi had whimpered and stiffed down many tears, but said nothing except for a soft sobbing of Yami's name, repeated over and over again in some sort of invocation.

The old man, Solomon, stared down at Yami's corpse with a bitter twist of his lips, and a sad nod of understanding to Isis, before he finally lurched up, gripped Yugi's shoulder, steered the boy away from his increasingly manic circles around the room, and planted him onto the couch beside him, with a stern word to his ear. Yugi had flushed scarlet at the reprimand, and wilted into stunned, sickened silence. Isis noticed the betraying tremble of his lips and the tight coil of his arms against his torso.

There was no sound except the aggrivating tick of the clock, Yugi's hitched breathing, and the unbearable roar of the heavy, heavy waiting.

Solomon gently thumped Yugi's quaking back in a comforting pat, as he flickered a troubled glance at the corpse, then to Isis, with grim eyebrows raised.

"Young lady, if you have any idea how to fix this situation, I suggest that you put them forth imediately."

She blanched as if he had struck her, and only shook her head with a sad, surrendering sigh before answering, softly, "Sir, I assure you. I do not know of any way of rectifying this...yet. "  
Solomon ran a steadying hand over Yugi's shoulder, and whispered, softly,

"But there might be a way?" The desperate hope in his voice made her heart ache

"I am sorry, sir,...Yugi...but I do not know." The despair was emphasized by the quick, inelegant hitch of her shoulders, and the sadness in her voice.

"How do you really know that Yami's completely gone?"

Yugi's voice quivered hoarsely from his sobbing, as he gently pushed aside Solomon to peer into Isis's eyes. Solomon's scowl, and finger already wagging in paternal negation clearly demononstrated his oppinion of the idea, but Isis whirled to meet him, her dark face twisted, tormented, troubled...before her features melted into cold, indifferent rage.

"I have transversed time itself, and was there when Yami was first sealed away. I was there when he was tortured, when he died the first time, and saw the price he willingly paid! And, now, you dare question me about his absence, little one?! Have you any comprehension of what you've done to him...to us all?!Were it not dishonoring to my king's memory, I'd-"

Yugi recoiled with a yelp when he saw the shadows filling her eyes, and Solomon rose warily shoving his grandson behind his broad back, an unruffled scowl over his normally merry mouth. He raised a finger like a dagger and jabbed it into the tense air between them, with a very uncharacteristic snarl that made him look even more like a bulldog...

"I don't know or care about what sort of Egyptian malarky you were hoping to do against my grandson, young lady, but understand that you won't be doing any more of it here. Maybe Yami was an inocent victim in all of this, but Yugi had no choice of his appearance, or his role in what happened. Yami had a few eons to learn how to deal with all of this, and if you are from Egypt, you certainly have had your own chances to make things right. We Motos are not reincarnated spirits, ghosts, or supernatural in any way. We're modern day people who lived normal lives that we'll never be able to return to, all because of Yami and you. My grandson was imprisoned in a piece of Egyptian gold, and was inhabited by a spirit, for God's sake! That cursed trinket tried to kill him! Granted, Yami saved him, but that would have never been necessary if Yami had stayed out of his life in the first place!! Now, young lady, I suggest you start thinking very, very hard about making any threats, because I don't give a flying rat's behind how magical you are! I won't tolerate threats against my grandson!" Solomon's speech was ended with a huff, and a jerking nod of his head, as he stepped back. Isis bowed her head, stared at him with eyes that were no longer seeing anything visible. For one tormenting moment, she lingered somewhere in the netherworld of rage and pity, before she shook her head.

Isis paled, visibly, grit her teeth, with a seering glance at Yami's corpse, then another brooding stare at Yugi's tears, with a shake of her head. With a shudder to her very core, she meekly spread her skirts into a formal curtsy, and with a small, subdued voice, whispered, "My apologies, Master Moto...Yugi...Please excuse me. I must...gather my thoughts..."

With that, she swept out of the room, leaving Solomon's troubled brooding, and Yugi still trembling.

Madness was always something she feared, and loathed, but after that little speech,Isis had seriously wondered how much sanity, and maintaining one's hold on it was worth. Especially if the reality was too painful to deal with, and she had no shelter except insanity or bitterness to retreat to, now. And, if her mind collapsed into blissful oblivion, if her heart could shatter to the point of being numb, if her existance could be yielded up for emptiness, she would consider to be a fair, glorious trade.

But, maybe madness was not the only cruelty inflicted. Desire for unsated vengance was definitely a torment her long-suffering virtue revolted against. Forgivness was supposed to be a soothing balm, able to wipe away the rage, and the tears, for surrender, and peace. From her quaking core, to her sad, sad knowledge of Yami's demise, she could not dredge up any emotion, manufactured, or even borne of lies, to even fathom forgiving the monster who had slain her king, and her friend. When Yugi's bright, inocent face seared its way across her tortured thoughts, her lip curled into an ugly snarl, her usual serenity was shattered, and the fires of rage deepened the cerilian depths of her eyes, made the warm sky yield to dark ice.

She never knew it was in her to be so...angry...so driven to make another suffer, and die, tormented, and then to relish the thought...

Isis shuddered at the cold, burning realization that she was experiencing the same gut-churning, blinding rage that had driven Seth to his sad fate, and warped the once inocent child, Yugi, into a monster that ground out Yami's life with no more thought than what he might give crushing an insect. And, here, in this dark place, there was no illusions of solace she could keep. There was no warm memories to savor, no redemption possible for such a perverse ending for Yami, and such broken, sickening manipulation from the Puzzle. With another snarl, she realized that she was being driven down the same tormented path leading to destruction without any influence from that golden prison. And it made her sick with fear.

Her dark thoughts were interupted by the groping hand on her sleeve, as Yugi gently tugged at her again for attention. Her eyes sharpened into slits of ice, and she rose stiffly, clearly annoyed at being caught off guard. With a questioning glance, and a gesture, Yugi awkwardly bowed, and whispered,  
"I'm sorry to bother you, Miss Isis. Please don't...do anything to me. I've seen what that..magic can do, and I really don't want to fall victim to any of it again. But, I think there are a few things that you need to know that might help Yami. At least let me explain why I don't necessarily think he's completely gone, please!"

Isis's eyebrows climbed higher and higher until they disappeared behind her black bangs, as she studied Yugi with a considering scowl. Wearily, she sighed, and with a sweeping arc of her arm, allowed Yugi to sit across from her, as she made the earnest effort to listen politely, if nothing else. He was still little more than a child, and it would only desecrate Yami's memory if she did anything less.

"Rest assured that I will not...do any 'magic' on you, little one. But, if you know anything at all that may make this right, then speak of them, please"

It was the flicker of awareness that he might have missed. The fractured pause of a tormenting moment where Yami suddenly stiffened when Seto's gliding thoughts came dancing like light itself down the dormant mind link. Deception. Cruelty. A trading of the tears for the ice, a perverse healing of all his scars by simply burning them too deep to feel anything else. Allowing his dark thought to twist themselves into perverse bindings for the wounds by strangling all hope, all reason, all motive to redeem what he had corrupted.

It was staring down in tortured disbelief at the memories that kept reincarnating themselves into the fractured present, forcing him to bleed again for all the old pain he could not forget, contain, or dispel. It was seeing Seth's face each time Seto sneered, and being reminded in the cruelest way of the one who had made Yami a monster by the death blow that wound up hurting him so much more than just the simplicity of a murder.  
It was everything and nothing, salvation damned or traded, Yami no longer knew, or cared.

All the nobility that had driven him to this dark place in the beginning, the faces of those who had watched, indifferently while he lay suffering and weeping for even the mercy of the surrender, if it meant an ending to some of this chokehold of death or life perverted. He had traded his time for the salvation that he would never obtain, and now...

Yami's eyes slid coldly over the hunched form of Seto, who lay splayed where he had fallen. The fresh tears were still glittering over the twitching flesh, the last melting ice dripping in mournful tribute to the mind that used to be. The shadow of guilt, unwelcome and haunting rose somewhere in his depths where his soul used to be, and Yami's heart ached in anguished rememberance when he recalled how he used to weep at such suffering. The betraying twitch of his chest revealed the shaking intake of breath, the bleeding blue of his eyes weeping in the futile silver against the darkness of the room confirmed that he was still very much alive.

Yami allowed no charitable notions to cloud the truth over his horrific treatment of Seto. It was nothing less than torture. To be bound and held, to have all things so utterly shattered..

Even the rules of reality and everything solid fracturing underneath all the assumptions that even made living life possible...Yami had taken all that away without thought, or care, for no other reason than he could. And that horrific knowledge of his own evil cut down deeper than any sin he could have ever committed.

Seto lay still, almost forgotten, except for a languid blink over his cloudy eyes, and the occasional grunt of pain that broke through the torpor, like a chunk of ice might bob to the surface of an otherwise unbroken surface.

And all of his own guilt had suddenly grown teeth and claws to drag him back down again.Yami swiped the tear trickling down with his fist, as he stared down at Seto's body, with sick remorse, and a trembling, breaking sigh from somewhere so deep that it hurt coming out.

He had become a monster. Finally crossed the ever thinning line between willful corruption and tormented reflex borne from being broken so many times. He had not just ventured haphazardly into the darkness, he had ran to it, craved it, drank it in like some parasite, and did not stop when his own needs were sated...no...he continued the breaking and the consuming until he had scarred Yugi with the same darkness he once threw his own existance away to redeem, and now...

Yami almost sobbed anew at the demonic tally his own brutality had wrought. He had tried to murder Yugi.  
His own high priest had been dismembered by his own hands, and now, his ressurected spirit was steadily drinking in the madness and corruption of eternal damnation on his behalf. Seto Kaiba was now rendered either completely broken in body and mind, or so utterly twisted by Yami's presence that he was ruined beyond any hope of normalacy. And Seto's only role in any of this was simply resembling the much loathed Seth, and attempting to save Yugi, in however twisted a manner. And his one true friend, Isis...her heart would be shattered at the cruel deception of his lingering once again.

How exactly did one go about explaining that they left their battered and bloody corpse behind and yet lived? The lunacy of the answers brought forth a bark of laughter that dissolved into hysterical chuckles. Seto's eyes brightened with eerie awareness, and their accusing azure rose in sharp reprimand to Yami.

Yami simply kneeled beside the splayed form, and felt his heart cringe in sympathy as Seto jerked his head away with a shrill whine of fear, and pleading.

"Forgive me." The words were spoken as if in a requiem, as Yami simply lay a palm across Seto's forehead again, and winced when he felt Seto's quaking anew. The agonized squeal tore from Seto's throat as he lurched away in futile twitches of revulsion. Yami clapped a hand on his shoulder to keep him from flopping down into a prone position, and gently steadied him.

"Be restored, Seto Kaiba."

Seto's whimper of terror and pleading did not match the strange, calculating glitter in his eyes. 


	17. The Rising

He loathed the glide of the fingers against his quaking spine as much as he hated the torpid twang of nerves firing their misaligned impulses to propell himself into some action. As hated as the touch was, it at least kept Seto from collapsing face down and hitting the iron bedrail, resulting in a broken nose, if not at least one hell of a concusion.

And to actually be weeping?! Seto had borne far more injury, and physical suffering that resulted in far less reaction. Not even the most severe sedative during his unpleasant trip to the pysch ward, or agony of broken bones had ever left him in that tortured, uncertain forced...non-existance. To have nothing to do but haunt his own body like some sick, fragmented ghost..it made him sick.

Seto's heart froze at the memories.

The endless coridors and the shining tiles. The quiet shoes of disgruntled aids had briefly peppered his existance.  
How Seto Kaiba hada been reduced to punching mirrors and seeing his own reflection in the shards..

Seto stiffened in repulsive instinct when Yami's hands gently encircled his shoulders and back to lay him down completely prone. Seto groaned, shook his head, grunted in protest, only to find himself staring briefly at the ceiling and shivering at the feel of carpet against his back. His breath quickened as he slammed his eyes shut, his only defense against any intrusion that Yami might perpetuate against him.

It was the dizzying sensation of the abyss slamming over his senses like a dark ocean, dragging him to the depths of hell. The bone-rattling tremor seemed to grip his misfiring nerves again as he exhaled in panic.

"Be restored, Seto Kaiba." The words lingered between them, so softly spoken. Seto nearly spat like a wet cat as the fingers were once again splayed over his quivering forehead. Fire and ice co-mingled across his brow, lingered, haloing his darkening vision in a sickening blast of heated light. His skull throbbed as the ocean sweltered to a crescendo of sensation he could not name..

Seto, seeing no reasonable alternative, allowed the dark wave to engulf him without resistance.

Yami fairly squawked in alarm, and withdrew his hand in absolute horror as Seto's tears trickled down the wan cheeks in silent testiomony to his treachery...yet again.

--

Seto's ViewPoint--

It had been a humilating thing, to conjur those waterworks without meaning to. Seto was also angry with himself for not honoring the mad impulse to bite Yami's fingers off one by one and spit them out with glee. Why the hell did he keep tormenting Seto? Was it not enough to see him so shattered and broken and ...actually whimpering like a kicked dog beneath him? Or would the cruelty not stop until Seto was completely so shot that he would never heal? Seto knew that he was reaching the breaking point. He felt his own sanity thinning like a noose fraying ever so slowly from the burden. He flinched at the image of the rope snapping, and him falling so far away...

No! Surely he had fought too hard for his existance to suddenly be reduced to a shell of who he was? Surely his mind was a bit tougher than to allow this sick surrender of victimhood? His own pride roared forth, irrational, and harsh in its demand for an answer. The anger answered back with dragon's teeth, and fire. Seto remained still in the lingering torpor, grimacing as life slowly trickled back. Movement was sluggish, but stronger..that was hopeful...

But, still his eyes remained closed, and his body lay lifeless as he forced himself to bite back the fierce instinct to gulp down air. He felt Yami's troubled hands venturing over his face in desperate seeking for a breath where there was none. Seto felt himself being lowered prone. Yami nearly wept the broken, harsh plea for absolution, as he invoked every bit of his rapidly decaying faith to restore the his victim...again.

Daring to slide his eyes open slightly, Seto saw the empty darkness of the room. Gritting his teeth, Seto forced his eyes open, and the world spun. Seto groaned, and nearly collapsed again against the nausea. With a grunt, he waited, before heaving himself up on his shaking elbows. His temples throbbed, but at least the floor had stopped tilting beneath him. Seto hesitantly rolled himself over on his belly,disgusted to see how drugged and slugghis his limbs were. Indeed, he felt as if he were more concrete than flesh and blood. Thankfully, the paralysis seemed to be fading away, and for that...Seto was grateful.

He wasn't sure how much longer he could have lingered in that netherworld of only being able to weep and watch. After a few more panting breaths, Seto forced himself upwards on hands and knees. Seto frantically glanced around for any signal of Yami's unwanted return. He bit back the cry of disgusted dismay when his limbs collapsed beneath him, folding up like paper. Before he could cry out, Seto found himself sprawling across the carpet with a sharp smack as his head bounced off the bed post.

Seto let out a strangled yelp, put a timid hand to his bruised temple and split lip, waiting for the stunned ache to leave, before resuming the lurching crawl. He tried to force himself to move faster, and to his humilation, could not. But, it was movement, and it was progress. Seto did not bother refraining from the smirk of glee as he pictured the vengence that he would most certainly give the spirit.

But, first thing was first. As Seto hated to admit it to himself, it would be completely foolish to stand and fight now, when he could barely stand. Better to crawl away and escape to safety, where he would have the time to heal and get his head on straight...

Seto's bitter smirk grew even larger as he ruefully rubbed his temples. Getting his head on straight after all of this?! Hell, he would settle to going back to his own life of being rich, envied, and left alone. Anything would be better than what he had been put through so far..

Grunting, Seto forced himself on his knees again, balancing his body against the bed post, and using the bed itself as leverage to haul himself to his feet.

Seto wobbled more than a newborn foal, but he had regained enough footing to resume the smooth gliding strides that he had come to miss quite a bit over the last few days. With a dark scowl adorning his lips, and eyes narrowed at the darkness of the hallway, Seto listened for a long moment. Then, with a curled lip and a scathing glance at his prison, Seto opened the door towards freedom.

"Tell me why you do not believe that Yami is beyond salvation, little one. Tell me the reason for this perverse hope." Her voice was restrained with chilled elegance and a gliding of her arms in firm negation. Yugi gulped nervously, as he cautiously squatted into the chair across from her.

"I know Yami, Miss Isis. We shared a mind, and a body. He...he is still there, somewhere. When he started breaking down, he ordered me and Seto away. He took the brunt of the Puzzle's punishment...for me. That's not the action of somebody who's beyond redemption, is it?"

Isis narrowed her eyes in icy consideration, a scowl lighting her fair mouth. "I do not believe for a moment that my king is beyond redemption, little one. That is not an issue at all. It is the fact that his bloodied corpse is sitting here, and I cannot find any trace of his spirit. Surely you see the potential ramifications of this?"

Yugi only answered with a shrug, and a sigh. "Yes, but..he died once, and came back, didn't he? I don't get all the Egyptian magic, or whatever it was that brought him back to life...but he still came back. From the bits and pieces he told me, the only reason why he wouldn't...be here now, is because he finally went onto the afterlife...which I thought he couldn't do until he was at peace. So, if he's not at peace, then he can't be there, and he can't be dead."

Her lips curved upward into a bit of a warmer expression, as she tilted her head to the side. "I never considered that, little one. That is indeed, a hopeful sign. But, it still leaves far too many questions. If Yami is not in your mind, or the Puzzle, then where might he be?"

Yugi's answer was squealed out in shock as the front door was abruptly flung open, and Kaiba hauled his bloodied, weakened body to the living room.

"Seto!"

It was with a bitter, knowing smile that Yugi only shook his head in sickening resignation.

"The Puzzle corrupted me even more than it broke Yami, but I'm still here, and able to make my own choices. Yami...I don't know that he can, Miss Isis. He's suffered so much more than I ever knew. It's so wrong that he has to go through so much for so long! And, what's worse...I-...I am responsible for so much of it..."Yugi's voice faded into contrite guilt as he swallowed back the wrenching tears.

"He took so much of the suffering on himself, Miss Isis. Even when the Puzzle was breaking him, even as he lay there pleading for me to stop, he still took it, all of it. Was he like that as the king of Egypt?"

Isis regarded Yugi with a troubled smile at the memories. "My king was very much like that, little one. He was not much older than you when he sacrificed himself to that golden monstrosity."

"You were there?! Was that when he got...that scar across his throat?" Yugi gasped, pale and sick, as Isis hastily smoothed back the golden bangs and shushed away the horror.

"No, no, little one. Those scars Yami bears...are the marks of the treachery that led to his death. His death was necessary to complete the sacrifice, but the torture and the suffering he endured before he died was a depraved act of unbelievable cruelty."

"Somebody CUT his throat?! Oh, God, Yami-" Yugi started trembling in searing horror as Isis gave a small, pained nod. He looked ready to vomit. 


	18. Chokehold

It was the echo of his own footsteps that greeted him in the darkness as Yami finally troubled himself to come back down the long hallway that led back to Kaiba's bedroom. He knew, from both the emptiness he sensed across the mindlink, and the messed sheets, the bloodied poker, the aftermath left behind, that Seto had escaped. With a sigh of indifference, Yami absently tossed the sheets back onto the bed, grimacing at the sensations of absolute fear that still radiated throughout the room. Seto was truly made of rock to not have a complete mental collapse, but between the tears, and the torture, Yami knew that he had left him scarred. But, not broken. Not shattered beyond fixing.

Yami allowed the smirk to emerge again in bitter salute to Kaiba. Truly, he would be restored, by the reserves of his own iron will and refusal to accept anything less, regardless of what help Yami may have had to give him. For the moment, however long it lasted, Yami was alone. And he intended to drink in every bit of untainted solace to salvage something from all this pain, even if it cost him everything.

Death and life. Dead and living. Two states of being that all people who had ever lived existed in. Typically, they were either one, or the other, and Yami was neither, and had not been for a few eons, now. He stared at his flesh, or the eternal version of it, and pondered what exactly came about of that bloodied corpse left behind, or what happened to his remains in ancient Egypt. How a fragment of Egyptian gold could contain a world, and bind him to hell. How Isis could be ressurected across time to save him, only to falter when he needed her the most. Or, how Seto Kaiba, the most cynical, disbelieving person had come to wear his own murderer's face, and weep like a child at his own provocation.

Yami sighed at the mental knots he kept weaving the noose in. He had pondered those endless questions, and found no answers. It was useless, and futile, and he was alone in his misery, just as he had always been. With a sad sigh of realization, Yami wondered what the outcome might have been, if he had refused to seal away the Shadows, if he had been content with the mortal's lot in life, and permited a mortal's death.  
Pharoah, he might have been, reveered instrument of God, but all pretenses aside, he had the same faltering, breaking human will that was useless as the rest of humanity when it came to fixing what was immortal and unfit for this world.

Yami grimaced at the grim realization that it was his own existance that was creating such a disruption to so many inocent lives. Would his own salvation be found in his ending? Yami honestly did not know. He allowed his thoughts to drift back over the fragmented existance of this present time, seeking an answer in so much confusion, and then hissing in sharp pain as the truth fell around him in one dark wave.

Eyes coldly narrowing, he rose and strode down the dark hallway, away from the spiraling corridors and shuddering at the many doors that lingered in the black around him. If the walls of the Kaiba mansion had been gold, instead of that muted sepia, they would have resembled the endless mazes of the Puzzle.

Almost timidly, he ventured to open the mindlink, slowly and hopefully, unnoticed as possible. He blanched when he felt the resistance slam back into his thoughts with the force of a hurled brick, emphasized by Kaiba's answering snarl, sharp as breaking glass and just as fragmented.

Yami immediately halted the attempt, shivering at the rage that had burbled up so painfully over the brief moment. Seto would certainly relish obliterating his existance. Now...if only that rage could be harnessed to meet a mutually desired aim...

Author's Note: This is from Seto's viewpoint, after escaping from Yami and arriving back at the game shop.  
I hope this cuts down on some of the confusion. I also hope this is a bit less confusing than previous chapters. To basically explain what is happening, Yami is growing more corrupted. The question is now if he is beyond redemption, and how to stop him if he is. I hope this is a bit more coherent. I would also like to apologize for the mangled mess of the Fractured Ice chapter. Due to yet another formatting error, that chapter on my computer has been lost, so there's no rewriting it without deleting all of it. I was hoping to delete the last few paragraphs, but the above story actually breaks in right after Yugi shouts Seto's name.

Yami's intrusion had reverberated through Seto's skull like a gunshot, and he placed a quaking palm over one temple at the sharp pain. Isis stared in sad understanding at his crumbled, pale face, and Yugi had yelped in shock, and somehow propelled him into laying prone on the couch. Seto had no choice but to accept the small hands on his limbs or collapsing on his face in the living room. The pain had fled in one, white flare, and Seto woozily attempted to force himself upright, only to irritably wave both the Moto's away. They were hovering over him, the old man with a blanket and a drink and Yugi with eyes filled with tears. The Egyptian woman stood still, with an eerie look of knowing, saying nothing, but gliding forward to plant herself besides Seto.

Solomon was standing over him, making soothing sounds and urging him to "lay still, young man. You're hurt!" Yugi's high pitched whining in the background only added to Seto's irritation, as he was suddenly draped in a blanket and uncerimoniously dumped on the couch, on his back.

It was downright humiliating to find himself flat on his back, and swaddled in the thick blankets. The old man had managed to wind his limbs into nearly a papoose over his body, and added the embarrassment of heaping a cold wash cloth over his forehead. How in the heck somebody so old and heavy could accomplish this, Seto did not bother pondering.

With a sympathetic chuckle, Isis gently intervened when she saw Seto's eyes bulging with anger. "Friends." She whispered, kindly. "While your attempts to aid Master Kaiba are...most admirable, and forgiving, they are not of much use here. Allow my aid, if you please."

Stepping between Yugi and Solomon, she knelt down to Kaiba's eye level and gently encircled his forehead with warmly glowing fingers, with the inocent intention of diluting whatever sickness had gripped Kaiba.

Seto snarled out a sharp negation, shoved her hard enough to send her flying, and shot upward and over the couch, absolutely furious.

"You...will...not...perform any more of that magical fairy dust bull-- on me, ever again. I don't care if it's supposed to make me ecstatic to the point that I skip around and sing. Do not try that again, or I'll rip your damn arms off. Got it?!"

He was pale and heaving, but looked every bit capable of cheerfullly carrying out the threat. There was no sound but the silence of his hitching breath, and the wide-eyed shock of the onlookers, as Seto glared at Isis.

"My king tortured you." Isis whispered in horrified confirmation, when Seto's eyes took on fire and narrowed even more at her.

"Yes. I was paralyzed and helpless. My breath was frozen in my lungs and I couldn't breathe, and he kept it up until I thought I was going to choke to death. Satisfied?" The words were spat at her as his mouth twisted.

"I find no satisfaction in the suffering of others, Master Kaiba."

He snorted, as his lips curled even more. "You king certainly does."

With a groan, he forced himself upright, and forced the quaking anger away from his voice, as he continued.

"All I want is for this to be over with so I can go back to my peaceful life of running my company. Can you do this, or not?"

He was struck by the sorrow that was glistening in her eyes as she gave Yugi a troubled glance. "It can be done. But, even you may find the price to see it through too high, Master Kaiba."

Seto huffed in annoyance, crossed his arms, and siddled away. "Higher than my therapy bills? Please."

Isis only stared at him, grimly and forboring as a storm cloud, with an icy silence that not even Seto could hope to rival. Rising, her hands ventured to the gold necklace that encircled her neck that glittered mutely in the light.

Seto's eyes narrowed in sudden understanding as he glared at the necklace. "That's another one of those damn Egyptian trinkets, isn't it? What does yours do, blow bubbles and fry puppies? Or do you just flit around wherever the hell you please and just screw up more lives for the thrill?" 


	19. Prelude

Prelude-  
Yes, I know, it's short and sweet, but hopefully not as confusing.

"Kaiba?" Yugi's soft question lingered loudly in the air between them, as Seto braced arms around his ribs, sighed deeply and glared at Yugi, almost snarling,

"Your pyschotic look-alike is currently holed up in my home after nearly choking me to death, Yugi. He doesn't know that I escaped, and no, he doesn't know that I'm here. It's not going to take him too long to find me, however, which means I have little time to screw around with social pleasantries. Where is the Egyptian woman?"

Yugi stared up at him, eyes widening in horror, as one hand came to his mouth. "Yami tried to kill you?  
But-"

"And I tried to bash his head in with a poker, but you don't hear me blubbering over with guilt, do you?  
Yugi, I don't have time for this! Where is she?!" Seto snapped in irritability triggered by his terror that he fought like hell to keep hidden.

Yugi paled, quivering. "Yami...oh, God..."

Seto snorted in disgust. "Praying might help you, but whining about what you can't fix will do nothing, Yugi. Now, where the hell is she"  
"I am behind you, Master Kaiba." The regal, soft voice preceeded Isis as she glided into the room with a troubled, expectant look at Seto. "Badgering the little one for answers will not help you, Master Kaiba. This situation has spiraled far beyond any of his imaginings."

"Is that so? Tell me, was it the fact that the freak came out of Yugi's head, or the glaring issue of how much of my life he's destroyed so far that made you draw this conclusion?" Seto spat angrily.

"It might be the glaring fact that Yami was first tortured and murdered by somebody resembling you that could have potential ramifications as well, Master Kaiba." Isis hissed with a peeved eyebrow raised in warning.

Seto shivered, fell silent for a long moment, before twisting his mouth in disgust, "An event that I have absolutely no control over, but will be repeated if somebody doesn't come up with a plan. I'll be damned before I live the rest of my life as some sort of container for that freak! Besides, it wouldn't do much good to kill the jackass. He doesn't seem to stay dead very well." He muttered with a dismissing twitch of shoulders. Isis only gave Seto another one of those irritatingly compassionate smiles, laced with the almost coy satisfaction that she held the answers that he did not. There was no warmth in her eyes as she faced Seto, and Seto had the more than unwelcome inclination that the soft-spoken woman was very much a blade of iron enclosed in deceptively soft velvet. There was that deepness in her eyes, that dark empathy that left him unnerved and feeling exposed.

"Master Kaiba." She began with polite chill as she rose from the couch. "I will not trouble myself to convince what is firmly fixed in your mind. Cherish your delusions, if you must. Hold whatever falsehoods dear to your heart, if you believe that it will save you. But, understand this, here and now, for I say this with as much compassion and warning as I can allow. Do not mock what you have no faith in, and do not disrespect what you refuse to understand. The truth will always out itself, and does not always suffer fools easily."

Seto stiffened as she glided over to his side, her hand on the necklace. " And while I do not believe you are a fool, you would save yourself much pain if you just allowed yourself to accept what you refuse to understand." She whispered softly.

Seto stared up at her, warily, his eyes darting between her face and the necklace that lingered gold between them, before irritably crossing his arms in masterful distain. "Fine, then." He waved an arm in sarcastic flourish. "Since I'm feeling generous, I'll make you a deal. You shut the hell up about Egyptian fairytales, and all that destiny garbage, and I'll try to keep my mouth shut about what I really think about all this."

The gold at her neck flared in sudden fire and Seto scuttled backwards with an undigified bark of alarm, "What the hell are you doing?!"

Isis herself was haloed in white heat, glittering off the strands of her black hair, shimmering through her in a pale glow, and Seto almost fell off the couch from the sheer...presence of the magic that suddenly flooded the room.

"Since I'm feeling generous, I will allow you to live despite the ignorant activity you label as thoughts currently occuring in your skull. Tell me something, Master Kaiba. If my king has the ability to torture you by mere thought, do you truly think it beyond my power to slay you without a second thought?"

Seto was shaken and silent, but the hatred that burned through his eyes said so much more than any words could. With a weary sigh of disgust, he stared up at her for a long moment.

"What is the point in fearing your petty little threat? You're going to do to me whatever you please, the same way your f--ed up king did to me. There's not a damn thing stopping you, here and now. Frankly, I'm sick of having my head screwed up. It's getting old. So if you're going to kill me, then have at it, and be done with it. At least then, this will be over with, one way or the other."

The Motos had gathered rather timidly in the corner of the room, Yugi's eyes darting back and forth between the two like pendalims, as Solomon watched with undisguised glee of Isis's blow to Seto's ego. It was refreshing to see somebody doing verbal combat with the boy.

"I do not wish to kill you, Master Kaiba. I have no desire to harm you, and I swear to you, I have no desire other than seeing my king safely restored, and your lives returned to you."

Seto's eyes went hard and cold, as his mouth was set in one grim, uncompromising line.  
"Forgive my blunt oppinion, but I am not impressed."

Somewhere behind him, Yugi gasped, and whispered his name, in warning to back away. Isis only graced him with another smile, and a bit of soft laughter.

"The issue, then, is not one of my ability, but your idiocy...Very well." Her last words were spoken with such finality that Seto's instincts practically screamed in unheeded warning. "Perhaps it is best if I simply show you what the price might be if you persist in your denial, Master Kaiba."

There was no time to cry out, no time to weep, or snarl, and bitch, as Seto would have done, had he the ability at that point. All he knew was that the Egyptian trinkent she wore suddenly spewed forth a golden shower and everything inside him burned. He felt himself gently lowered onto the waiting couch, unresisting, as Yugi stood over him, cooing reassurances before he lingered between the fading dark and the overwhelming urge to cry. He heard Isis's silken purr of incantation as her fingers gently encircled his own,  
before something inward shattered and Seto felt the dragging tide pulling at his thoughts. For once, he was unresisting to the black water surging over the world in one chaotic flood. With one last breath, Seto let himself be taken under completely. 


	20. The Brightest Burn

Okay, an author's note to make this a bit less confusing. If you read Chapter 7 of the Abyss, you will see one of Yami's flashbacks of his own murder. Seth is the one who started the nightmares by murdering Yami as he was being sealed away into the Puzzle. In other words, if there is a real villian in this whole murky mess of this story, it would be him, since he is the one who actually murdered for no motivation other than cold blood. For those of you who actually want to read that chapter of Seth's fall from grace, it's in my story, A Proud and Bitter Crown, the seventh chapter, under Death of A Pharoah. I have to warn any and all who read it, it is extremely graphic in its description of torture and murder. I hope that solves some of the confusion and if it did not, please feel free to flog me for it. Thanks!

Seto felt himself drifting languidly through time, or a feverish dream. Drowning, or floating, alive or dead.  
there was precious little in the strange abyss that he was currently flowing into that mattered or troubled him. Vaguely, through the cracked shards of his own perception, he heard Yugi's shrill demand for an explanation, the low, soothing of Isis rising and falling somewhere in the room. Vaguely, he knew that something was horrifically wrong with his inability to move, to breathe, to even open his eyes, but it no longer troubled him.

It was the dark peace of indifference. A release from all the broken madness by simply surrendering without question instead of fighting so hard to maintain what he now realized he could not keep. With a sigh, Seto only allowed himself to fall further into whatever torpor he was currently drifting in.

It was reliving yet another nightmare for Yugi. The same splayed limbs falling in limp surrender, as Seto collapsed as if lopped off at the knees. Those searing eyes so full of lingering torture before they went empty and then closed. And, then, to see Seto laying so completely still...Yugi couldn't help it. He shoved a quaking palm over Seto's nose and mouth, hungry for the reassurance that he still breathed. He nearly wept when he felt the soft waft of breath across his knuckles, the small rise and fall of Seto's chest. He still lived, thank God. But in what shattered state, Yugi did not know.

Quaking with sickened fury and anguish, he lay Seto's limp wrist back across his chest, then whirled to face Isis. "What did you do to him?!"

Her eyes lingered over Seto for a long, hesitating moment, as she caressed his forehead, the fingers glowing gold, as Seto whimpered then went still.

"I have saved his life, little one, even if you do not see it now."

"But.." Yugi gulped at the horrible questions that flooded his mind, and he had to swallow to work up enough air and courage to continue.

"What if Seto's completely crazy by the time this is over with? What if he becomes bad like Yami?"

Isis sighed, wearily, as she suddenly gripped Yugi's figiting hands to still them in her own cold ones. With a sad shake of her head, she tipped his chin upwards to peer into her eyes. Fighting for calm, she released her grip when she heard his squeal of terror.

"Little one, how I wish to Ra you could have been spared this misery. How I wish that my king could simply be restored and at peace, and Seto's existance returned to his own consent. Whether or not either one will return to us is a choice that only Master Kaiba can make. I am truly sorry. I can tell you no more."

It was the glitter of torchlight off of sandstone, and the chill of rock at his back that first drew his attention. Shivering in disoriented instinct, Seto cradled his throbbing head between his shaking hands, and tried to massage the ache away. It was a miserable failure. With a scowl, he dug into his pockets to see if he had one of his headache pills. His scowl only deepened when he realized he had none. With a heaving grunt, Seto forced himself upright, and nearly vomited at the tilt of the world around him. Laying a palm against the stone to steady himself, he waited until the nausea dispelled, and staggered forward, in wary disbelief.  
If this was a dream, it was the most hellishly realistic nightmare he could have ever envisioned.

He vaguely remembered that Egyptian bitch smiling so knowingly over him, as she leveled him lower than dirt and attacked him with that gold junk jewelry. He remembered the eerie floating, free-falling spiral into darkness, unawareness, puncuated by the anguished lingering between the two before he decided the hell with the whole thing, and let himself drift off to sleep...or drift into this...place. Seto raised an annoyed eyebrow, shaking off the disbelief. He did not trouble himself with deciding if he was sane or insane. He was here-wherever it was...and attempting to manipulate the facts to sate his own fears would only keep himself here longer. Gazing around at the vast stone room, he saw no walls, no windows and no way in or out. An emormous stone sky soared over his head, as well as the cold bricks beneath his leather shoes.

It was a dark, lonely room, filled with forgotten bitterness and things that were too deep for words. Seto ventured to touch the bricks and grimaced at the grime and the dust that covered his hand. The air was stale, and Seto felt the emptiness as if he were the last man on earth. It unnerved him almost as much as his arrival to this hell in the first place.

When he heard the soft sigh behind him in the dark, the clink of shackles as they rattled against the bound wrists of the figure in the corner, Seto pivoted sharply. He saw the small light glinting off the iron links of chain, the slow rising of the pale face from the rags, the shimmering madness in the pale blue eyes that mirrored his own. It was staring into his own face and finding its twin in hell.

The prisoner only stared, mutely, with some unnameable emotion churning in those fathomless eyes. Seto had no choice but to gaze on in numb shock.

It was brutality and torture, written across once unmmarred flesh. The deep calluses from shackles, and the scars. Old blood mingled over barely healed cuts, and newly formed scabs weeping scarlet from the most recent of the beatings. Somewhere out of the torpor, and that disgusting pile of rags, a pale, and shaking hand emerged from the tattered remains of a sleeve, suddenly grabbed Seto's wrist in a crushing grip, and dragged him downward until he was bowed to his knees. Another hand quickly latched onto his throat, but the fingers didn't coil over his windpipe. Seto felt the searching fingers ghosting from his throat to his chin,  
gently tilting his face upwards so that mask of scars could lean in for a closer look.

Seto trembled in horror. He was staring into the face of Yami's murderer! With a strangled cry, Seto lurched backwards, slammed his back against the wall, and slid downward, shattered.He drew in a shaking breath, closed his eyes in the failed attempt to will it all away. Abruptly, he felt himself released as the hands withdrew, as if burned.

"Are you another gift from my master?" Seto gaped to hear the silken rasp, harsh as wind over stone, yet in his own voice whispering the question. Grunting, Seto swallowed hard, and could only answer with the rather stupid "What?!"

Wearily, the prisoner groaned, shifting limbs and shadows and chains in the effort to sit upright. "My master gives me many gifts! Some that hurt, some that heal, but always bright, always here, always granting me my salvation!" The answer was murmured, as the prisoner met Seto's whimper with a haloed smile of bright insanity. The cackle that complimented that radiating smile sounded like broken glass.

"...Salvation?" Seto spluttered. "How in the hell do you call being chained and beaten until you're bleeding salvation? That's punishment, you jackass! Who is your master? How do I get out of here?!"

"Punishment is for those who are beyond redemption. Purging is for those who can yet be saved by suffering.  
See the gifts that my master lavishes upon me!" With that, the prisoner flung out a wrist for Seto's squimish inspection. Seto watched as the flesh suddenly split open deep enough to reveal the pearled bones of his wrist. The prisoner only cackled again with glee, caressing the gore with tender fingers, and holding the dripping red out to Seto.  
"See?! See?! Another blessing from my master! I am but one step closer to liberation! Come, sit, and rejoice with me, sir! "

Seto only stared, eyes staring at the blood now gently falling to the floor, and then back to the prisoner. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Seto whispered softly. "You're cut and bleeding! Don't you see that? Geeze-"

Seto halted the verbal attempt to bring reason to a situation he could not even begin to comprehend, and with shaking hands, tore off a strip of his own now extremely mussed coat and snatched the prisoner's wrist.  
"I don't know what you did to get here, and I don't care." The prisoner only watched, with that same smile coiled about his lips as Seto fumbled with the cloth to bind the wound as best he could. He wasn't sure if it was kindness, or madness, and didn't care. Seto just couldn't stand looking at that open bleeding and do nothing.

With a look of awe, the prisoner held the bandaged wound up to the light, and studied it, venturing to touch it with timid hands. "Your gift did not hurt." The words were soft in wonder as the prisoner stared up at him, reverently. "Are you sent from my master to lead me from the dark? Is my time of purging finished?"

Seto buried his head in his hands, for a long moment, then wearily shook his head.

"Do you understand that gifts aren't supposed to hurt?!" Seto growled. "And if salvation is won by suffering...why are you still here? Do you mean to tell me that your...injuries are the result of some assenine atonement? What did you do to get here? Or am I just caught in another mind warp?"

The hurled questions were met with a gentle smile and the prisoner's childish giggle, as he reached out, and lightly pat Seto's shoulder. "If you wait, you'll be purged as I am, and you can be healed as I am. My master is gracious in his healing. There's no need to fret so!"

Seto shuttered as he shrugged off the hand, with disgust. "Who are you? And who is your master?"

The prisoner grinned again, chuckling. "You do not understand, do you? It doesn't matter, none the less. My name was Seth, when I walked among the world. My master's name, I dare not utter, out of respect. But you know him. My lady Isis would not have sent you forth if you didn't know him."

Seto contributed his own vomit to the filth of the prison. ISIS? That Egyptian witch who had stunned him, and drugged him or tampered with his mental factalties to send him into this latest bout of insanity?! Seto's lip curled at the visions of retribution that danced merrily across his vengeful thoughts, but stored them away at the moment. Forcing himself to project a calm he didn't feel, and plastering the wide, almost groteque grin over his own face, Seto sat back on his haunches to face Seth.

"So...Isis is a friend of yours? Did she send you here?"

Seth's smile crumpled into a childish pout as he shook his head vigoriously. "No!" He blurted out, sticking out his lower lip, and glaring up at Seto. "I chose to be here, from my own mistakes. I did very bad things, you see."

Seto felt his stomach clench as if a fist had grabbed his gut and squeezed. Keeping his voice soft and as gentle as possible, he only nodded. "What sort of bad things did you do?"

Looking back on that moment, in the far unmarked years, Seto could still not answer if it was more heart-breaking to see that moment of clarity sparkling back to those eyes as Seth gave him a look of sorrow, or the retreat back into insanity. He did not know.

With the suddenness of lightening, Seto saw lucid awareness suddenly break through the murky insanity like shrapnel hitting a target. Panting, Seth shuddered, placed shaking palms over his eyes as he hunched over with a tormented groan. Seth's eyes fell on the bandage, and he drew it to himself, cradling it in his other hand like a gift. Long moments passed as he looked from his wrist to Seto in tears.

"Thank you for this act of kindness, my friend. I do not know how long I will have the capacity to linger here, away from the shadows and the madness, but while I'm here, please, please, heed my words!"

Seto stared at him. "What is wrong with you? Are you insane, then, or..."

Seth only gave him a look of sorrow, as he stared down at his broken body with bitterness. "I am being purged, and punished. These wounds I bear, I have earned and many more will be required before I am free. It was by my own choice that I bear this affliction, friend, just as it was by my own choice that I took that blade to my king's throat and slain him in cold blood. You have seen that. You know this."

Seto's eyes narrowed, coldly. "And I know that you deserve this, then. Every bit of pain, and every scar. What in the hell was going through your mind when you butchered him, anyway? What did Yami do to have you hack his throat out?"

Seth's eyes narrowed, and matched Seto's glare with equal ice, as he gave him a wry smirk and a shrug.  
Seto scowled at the mirror to himself as Seth whispered, "If my king did anything worthy of having his throat cut, do you sincerely believe I would be in this place of torment now? Understand this. You are wasting precious time ruminating and questioning what cannot be changed. I may have lost all chance of redemption, but you are inocent, and therefore...I do not wish you to linger here."

Seto shook his head, and groused sarcastically, "Hurray! I do not wish to linger here, either! Now, how do I leave?" 


	21. The Beginning of the End

er heart had been broken from the suffering of her friends, the endless waiting of useless years, the twisted ressurection of her dearest friend, and the longed for freedom that never came. Isis's hand strayed to her necklace, lingered over the golden Wajet eye in the middle, and let the cold presence at her neck glow softly in reassurance. It felt warm as flame, but soothing against her flesh. It was the only Item she knew of that did not take prisoners. But, that bit of mercy was ruthlessly torn away with the unexpected and tormenting truth of Seto Kaiba. Seto had been propped up on the couch, draped in a blanket, his head swathed by a pillow and his forehead swathed in a cold wash cloth. Useless gestures in themselves, as was the lonely, anxious vigil that young Yugi kept at his side. But, the concern was touching, and Isis felt the ever vicious ache of remorse when she saw another tear slide down Yugi's cheek.

Seto himself, lay still, his face placid and serene and white as a corpse's. Aside from the slight breath, there was no indication that he even remained among the living, or that he had any haste in returning, at least in Yugi's weeping eyes. Isis lay seeking fingers on Seto's wrist, and smirked when she felt his fiery spirit recoil at the invasion, completely unbroken, and enraged, but still calculating, and in control. The dragon did indeed retain his fire, even in all this. It was blessedly reassuring to know that, even if she could not convey that to Yugi. She looked at him, with sympathy, for all these poor inocents. They had never asked to be swept up in this chaotic tide that even flowed over time, and love, and their lives indifferently. Bitter, black water that drowned, hid the monster in the deep, and held the secrets in the depths that nobody should ever be forced to transverse.

Isis sighed, in anguished preminition. She remembered a proverb, spoken so long ago, that the thread of the past could weave itself into the lifeline, or the noose of the future. Staring down at Seto's still form, and Yugi's hunched, and shattered one, and thinking of Yami's corrupted pain out there made her dread which way the thread would unravel.

Yami. How far he had fallen away from that noble young Pharoah who had willingly gone into the dark with nothing but his own frail flesh to sacrifice and the vague hope that it would be worth it. Now, he was the hungry dark that relished the pain he once fought so hard to spare others from. The wounds would never heal, and she wasn't sure it would not have been an act of mercy to let the dead stay dead, if this was what ressurection did to them.

Yugi. He had gone from being an untouched child to a willing torturerer of his own protector. The Puzzle had corrupted him to the point of almost being beyond redemption, his inocence was shattered, his existance in this world permanently altered, and the Puzzle would likely drain his life away with glee. From the deep undercurrent that surged through Yugi, she knew that the poor boy was aware of that possibility and grappled with the thought of his own life ending on too many dark nights. It was a burden that nobody should ever have to bear.

Seto. His only crime was baring the face of the beast that started all of this, and lingering in concern for Yugi. Granted, he was strong-willed, and fire and fierce pride, but Isis knew that he did not have the inner resources to maintain that vicious struggle for control much longer. She shivered at the thought of Seto growing corrupted. He might harbor a more vicous potential than Yami.

Seth. With one dagger stroke, he had slain the sacrificial lamb, and cost himself his own redemption. Isis shivered at the memories of the blood, the gaping wound, that dying breath of Yami's and that helpless torpor that lay over everything as Yami wept and bled and died in so much needless pain. The deaththroes of his body's last spasm, before he lay so still and violated, the scarlet screaming for a justice that never came. And, now Seth was attempting to atone for that horrific act by willingly donning the chains and the wounds and the scars with nothing more than a vague prayer that it might be enough.

Isis sighed. It would never be enough. Five thousand years of hurting and waiting had been the only penance she could offer up for her own atonement, and it was not enough to change one damn thing. Her only hope now lay in a Pharoah's mind that lay as broken as the people he left behind, and a cynical billionaire who wasn't even capable of withstanding even her gentlest of spells. It made her very, very afraid.

She was startled at the sudden twitch of Seto's entire body as his face contorted and he uttered an animalistic cry, before going still again. Hastily, she put a palm to his temple, uttered a spell, and was rewarded by another one of Seto's familiar snarls. That reaction, at least was an indication that Master Kaiba was still there.

Seth did not answer him for a long moment, only gazed down mutely at his chains, the cuts, with tears. How he had gotten to these shackles, and what broken madness had made them so much better than the guilt, he could never say. Were he given the choice, he would have hacked out his own throat a thousand times if it meant he could be free. Wearily, he raised his head to see Seto's scowl twisting into worry as his eyes darted uncertainly at the four walls that Seth had stared at for so many eons. His eyes fell on the futile scratches on the dark brick, each mark a day spent in hell, each scar a well-earned wound.

"It was not too long ago that I bore your same hardened look of cynism, friend. That I had the luxury to dismiss and scorn, and hate for no reason. My king was every bit the noble prince worthy of serving that Lady Isis has spoken of. My king willingly lay his life down for his people and took their burdens with little thought to the cost to himself. Were I not the traitor I was, none of this would have been set in motion, and I would not be in these chains, now."

The only sounds was Seto's exhaled breath and the soft clink of the chains. "Be that as it may, you still haven't explained how I am leaving this place."

"The way out is almost as horrific as how you arrived to this dark place in the beginning. I know that you seek and deserve the answers, friend. Allow me to warn you of that before I say more. Now, I will answer you to the best that I can. It is the least I can do to make this right."

Seth only groaned in answer.

Seth could feel the fraying tether of his own sanity ebbing again, the shaky foundation erroding and blurring as he was drowning again in the madness.

Seto nearly pissed himself when he felt the harsh hands grabbing his wrists as he was hauled to his feet, and met with Seth's searing blue eyes full of misery and pleading for understanding.

"I'm...fading again. In a little while, I'll be lost again, and lingering here in the shadows of what I was supposed to be. Forgive me, it cannot be helped, and I don't know when I may yet emerge again. I will return when I have the ability. Forgive me, for what I am about to do, and know that it will result in your deliverance."

The words lingered in the air, and Seth buried his head in his shaking hands, as the tears trickled down in silent testimony of the cost of such absolution. Seto could only gape in sickened numbness as Seth's burning awareness yielded back to those empty eyes full of gleeful, shimmering shards. His mouth went from its mournful sob to a bright smile, and his tense body resumed its rocking as he started to hum in time to music that did not exist.

"Seth? Seth?! What the hell happened?!" Seto spluttered in rage and confusion as Seth only gave him an eerie grin and a cackle in answer.

"My master has sent you to join me! Such a kind gift, such a mercy! Oh, the games we can play!" The enthusiastic squeal and the clapping hands made Seto recoil with a shiver of fear.

"Before you demand that I frolick in the flowers, you need to tell me how to leave this place. Now, damn it!"

Seth stiffened as if he had been struck by an unseen blow, the silence falling over him like bricks. With narrowed eyes that were glittering with malice, he gazed up at Seto, levelly, trembling, his grin melting away to dark rage.

"The games we can play." Seth lowered his voice to a purr as he slid with achingly slow steps over to Seto's crouching into a patient glide and smirking.

Seto felt the bricks at his back, the cold burn of rock digging into his palms as he groped blindly for a plan and some distance. Gulping, he stared at the corners, the walls cloaked in shadows, and the demon approaching him with so much entitled ease. He was the mercy of a monster. Again. He was going to go through one hell of a nightmare. Again.

Something deep inside broke and Seto only stood straight and stoic, raising his chin and crossing his arms.

"If you think you're going to play any games with me, I suggest you back the hell up and reconsider before I get angry." Seth only cackled in answer, undeterred. Seto watched, numbly as he approached, ever closer, even as his breath hitched in his chest, his blood froze and he felt everything inside turn to rock instead of flesh.

It was the lingering seconds before the blow that Seto only had time to cry out. The strangling fingers ghosting over his throat halted, that mad glint in Seth's eyes had been replaced with one of contrite, broken sorrow, as Seth shored up the last of his defenses to squelch the murderous impulse. Trembling fingers sought Seto's wrist, gently stood him on his shaking feet, and then let go. Seto only panted, staring, as he

grunted, "You returned, again? Great timing. Now, please, get me out of here before you lose it again and you don't get it back."

Seth flinched at the horrible prophesy of those last words as he only raised a shaking palm. "I have lost all, and there is no hope in getting it back. Do not my scars prove this to you?"

Seto shut his mouth for once. Seth sighed. "Since it is only answers you wish, you shall have them. As I said, forgive me."

And with those last, sad words, he rose to his full height, and only gave Seto a pleading look before he wrapped the chain around his neck and pulled to the strangling point.

Seto grunted, clawed at the links digging into his flesh, and thrashed blindly at the lack of air and mercy as his last breath exhaled and he sagged, bonelessly.

Seth felt the unresisting yield of his spine as Seto's eyes slid shut. Hastily, he released the hold, praying it was enough. Kaiba exhaled with a choking gasp, but lay still, unconscious.

Seth smirked at the outcome. Hurt, and subdued, but not dead was the aim he was hoping for. Broken and bound, a gift delivered from the gods themselves, and handed over by their supposed messenger Isis. He chuckled at the irony of Isis's idiocy of trying so hard to redeem him. Indeed, such stupidity had only prolonged the suffering of the people she tried so hard to protect. What a nasty suprise it would be for her and her beloved king to have him arrive unshackled, and unfettered in another body, and therefore, unnoticed. It would be the cruelest deception of all. Instead of the pathetic parody of this weakling bearing his face and subjecting Yami only to the memories, he would have his pleasure fulfilling the actual act in all its bloody glory again.

The cackle rose from the deeps of the rock as he distainfully shook off the shackles with an ease that betrayed no suffering. He stared down at Kaiba's vulnerable form, and then the shackles. He grinned again at the thoughts that arose from the delightful task of shattering that arrogance beyond repair.


	22. Fallen

Yami had sat, rather stupidly, with his head buried in his hands, in the futile effort to keep the world, his thoughts, his existance and his own treachery at bay for a few more moments. Opening his eyes, standing, even breathing seemed to take a taxing effort that he could not summon the will to execute. The sheets were still in their bloodied, tangled aftermath, the poker gleaming , and all about him, the darkness was closing in, as the shadows filled the lush walls with their haunting invitations.

And to see Seto's burning pleas for mercy..to break somebody so strong for no reason other than he could...to torture somebody into tears, and relish that animalistic spasm that instinct could not deny as Seto's eyes shut...it was too much.

Grimacing, Yami raised his blood-stained fingers to the dying light of the sunset, seeing the glass refracting the scarlet over his pale flesh, and he fought the urge to weep. If there was any charitable doubt that he was corrupted, the gore on his hands screamed in desperation for absolution. And Yami realized, with grief anew, that were he to sacrifice himself for the world again, he would consider it a cheap trade to rid himself of his self-loathing.

It was the ripple of sudden sensation that nearly brought him to his knees. Overwhelming tide of helpless despair, laced by Seto's whispered terror. Isis's plea for help, and Yugi's tears. Shuddering, Yami rose, the pain returning, as well as the resolve. An invasion that reverberated to his core, with hatred so cleansing and pure as the blade that had taken his life so long ago, and set him on this miserable path. He clutched trembling palms to his temples, and grimaced at the shattered state he found of Seto's mind through the mind link.

Broken shards and melted ice bathed in blood.

A small flicker of life drowning in the aftermath of Seto's breaking.

Weakly, he hear the angelic voice of Isis echoing down from the abyss, swathed in golden light in all its purity. She spoke his name in one last desperate requiem before the last bit of magic faltered like a dying star and was no more.

His head throbbed with the effort to resurrect the only contact he had had with a friend in so long. He shuddered when the power he volleyed over the mindlink came flying back and slammed into him like a fist.  
Shivering, he waited for a few ominous moments for the answer. There was nothing but silence. It was as if Isis had either died, or fell out of existance. Yami clapped a hand over his mouth to stop the wail at the thought. It was too much to bear at the moment, and completely useless if he were to ever make any of this right again. Just when he was about to drop the attempt as an exercise in futility, he heard Seto's voice, quivering and raw, and weak as if he had been strangled, and could only manage the last words.  
There was a long, choking pause, before the hissing breath whispered of wind over a grave stone.

"Seth."

The brutal flinch of instinct propelled Yami upward from the ground, as the fire, so burning in its cleansing, forced his quiver of terror to trembling with absolute rage that Seth would dare violate his existance again. Smirking, Yami raised eyes narrowed with contemplation to his reddened fingers, as he chuckled at the thought of revenge. "Tonight." He promised himself. He would either be free, dead, or damned, but no longer would he be controlled by the memories.

It was eerie,and sad to see Seto Kaiba laying so still, and mute, and on the humble couch, no less.  
Yugi had maintained his lonely vigilance, gripping Kaiba's hand in an effort to tether him to the world. He stopped at the thought of Seto suddenly awakening, and snapping the bones in his wrist, if not completely detaching it from his arm. Yugi gulped, and hastily moved his chair a safe distance away. Warily, he turned his gaze to Isis, wondering what in the heck she was doing. The Egyptian had been acting even more strange since Kaiba had succumbed to whatever force kept him in that trance. She had laid her dark hands over his temples, recoiled with a cry of pain, and then her lips curled in a secretive, satisfied smile. When questioned, she only responded to Yugi's inquiry with general reassurance, and a bizzarre statement of "Master Kaiba is still among us." Yugi had only raised an eyebrow at that last remark, skeptically glancing at Seto's complete lack of interaction with the world, and the lunacy of Isis, and only shook his head.

Isis seemed serene to the point of madness, and Yugi's head ached from sorting out all the mental knots that this whole situation had woven itself into. Seto was caught in a limbo between consciousness, or even existance, and according to Seto's statements, Yami had free reign in Seto's head until he nearly destroyed the billionaire. Yugi tried, again in vain to reconcile the kindly spirit who guarded his very existance with the monster that tortured and wounded, and...even murdered.

He blanched when he remembered his own transgressions, and felt the guilt for judging Yami so harshly when he himself had such stained hands in Yami's own darkness. Sighing, he wearily rose to stretch his aching back, and smiled as his grandfather slid a cup of warm tea into his hands with a look of understanding. Solomon shook his head sadly at Kaiba's form, and muttered, "If he fails to wake up in the next few hours, it'd be best that we take him to the hospital."

As if in perverse irony, both Motos lurched up in shock as Seto groaned softly, and groused under his breath, one hand arching upward to his forehead with a lip curled in irritation. Without opening his eyes, he flung the rag away in disgust, and yawned. Seth forced himself to lay still to sort out whatever sort of situation he would be waking into. How lucky for him that the chosen vessel was already distancingly cruel, and wore such an iron mask, that he would have little trouble decieving anybody if he acted cold. Seth fought the urge to grin, and waited.

Yugi gave his grandfather a joyful smile, as he rushed forward. "Seto! You're awake!"

Languidly, Seth blinked, pausing for a moment to relish the feel of flesh again, the warmth of blood flowing through his veins, and raised a wrist, marveling at Seto's unmmarred wrist with a satisfied smirk. So this was what it felt like to be alive again. He scowled to hear the irritating babble of the high-pitched excitement, and shot Yugi a look of venom. Abruptly rising, he sneered down at the dimunitive Yugi, but remained silent, stricken with rememberance. Those violet eyes, in his mired confusion, had mirrored Yami's, and meeting that spirit after his own treachery was certainly not an experience he wished repeated. Hesitantly, Seth stared down at Yugi, and sighed in relief. While the small one bore a striking resemblance to Yami, it was clear from that wide-eyed, raptured inocence, that he was not.

Tilting his head to the side, uncertainly, he forced his spine into the arrogant posture he had seen Kaiba used, as he muttered, scornfully, "So it appears I am...small one."

Yugi's eyebrows shot upward, puzzled, as he glanced down at himself, with a shrug. "Normally, you call me runt, Seto. Are you alright? How are you feeling?"

Seth regally crossed his arms with the fluency of a snake preparing to strike. Smirking at the irony, he answerd, "Like a new man." He fought down the guffaw of laughter as the small one blinked again, and only accepted this with another warm smile. It was far, far too easy to be deceptive. He had a few thousand years to plot, and plan, and drink the desire, did he not? How could he do anything less now that he was free? Seto had unwillingly handed him the perfect salvation and he intended to relish every bit of savage pleasure of this new existance with all its perverse offerings while he could.

He crinkled his nose in distaste at the plain water that Yugi had offered him, but drank it down. It had been far too long that he had been denied even that mercy. He stared at Yugi's pale throat, and wondered if severing the veins in his flesh would be as easy as it came for Yami, for long moments.

Somewhere inside, he felt the thin echo of revulsion, and the unwelcome snarl from Seto, soft and weak but still full of rage at the violation of his life. "Don't." It was a single word, heaved out with supreme effort.  
Seth gave the world a very Seto-like scowl at the very unnerving realization that Seto's spirit had not been crushed into oblivion, and despite the odds, still lingered, haunted in the depths of his mind's shadows.  
Seth hastily examined the distance that Seto's bleeding spirit would have to crawl, the strength needed to even summon the basic will to fight, and smirked. Aside from the irritation of hearing his voice, Seto posed no threat at the moment.

Mockingly, Seth gave the remains of Seto a not so gentle reminder of who commandeered the frail flesh now, and was rewarded by Seto's squeal of pain. Seth grimaced at the high-pitched wail that flooded up from the depths, and could not help the flinch that twisted his face for a moment at the sound. Glancing around wildly, he was immensely relieved to see that Seto's shriek had not been heard by mortal ears and the noise had not traveled any further than his own mind.

Seto's viewpoint, angst warning...

It had been resounding as a blow, and all the more unbearable for his weakness. Seto's hands...if they could be called that, groped in the darkness for some tangible foothold, some sort of solid form that would lend credence to his desperate seeking. Evidence that he was still alive, and still existed. A life that was still free from the confines of spirit and time's cruel manipulation. He found none, and in one mad gamble, had hurled every bit of his lagging strength in the bid to draw attention to his plight. It had been bitter irony, and a stroke of brilliance even for him to summon Yami. From the brooding darkness of Yami's thoughts that surrounded every memory of this hated Seth character,and just the way that snarl so instinctively twisted his lips...Seto allowed himself a brief, muted sense of triumph. Even if Yami chose to blast his worthless carcass to hell, it would be far better to die and watch the fireworks display between the two than be forced to watch as a mute thought in the shell of his own body. He couldn't stand the thought of being imprisoned.

Seto did not know if the attempt was successful, or even if it were possible, but the sharp blade of pain that suddenly flared fire through his core. Numbly, and weakly, he felt what was left of him sliding further downward in a crouching slither of finality that not even he could fight for much longer. He could not stop the cry that ripped from his throat in reaction to the blinding pain.

That had been what nearly killed him...if that was even possible now. Seto felt the evil coiling over him, serpentine and dark and hungry when he felt the malice around him focusing on Yugi. Seto shivered in horror at the absolute depravity of Seth's intentions, and grit his teeth. Gathering what little fire he had left, he somehow rose above being a spectral spectator in the madness and forced the word upward. It was as if he was pushing a mountain literally up a mountain, and he trembled, wondering why he had even bothered to intervene, once again in saving Moto's life, and then shivering over the possibility that he-or his body-  
had just taken a life. 


	23. Bitter Reunions

First of all, an apology. I didn't update this story over the weekend, so, I will submit to flames, and floggings in all my contrite cringings for absolution. I am very sorry! Second...I am writing the chapter where Yami and Seth finally meet...and have re-written it several times. It has sucked every time, and it won't be posted until I'm satisfied with it. Thirdly..This story is drawing to a close, as is my other Yugioh Story, The End of All Things. Those of you who were waiting with baited breath for my eventual departure from Fanfiction will be sorely disappointed, so please put the horns and confetti back. I have already started a tentative story for Yugioh called "This Fire," which will hopefully be posted shortly after I am finished writing the Abyss In Its Splendor. It's not going to be a sequel to the Abyss, and it will be placed, primarily in Egypt, if I can write it realistically. We will see. Secondly, I'm starting at least another one-shot for Pirates of the Carribean called Bones In The Moonlight, and it will be angst-ridden, if it doesn't absolutely blow chunks in the writing.

God bless and happy readings!

CaleighoMeer

P.S. If anybody has any ideas of interesting one-shots, please send them to me. I enjoy trying different attempts at writing, and as anybody can see from my frequent updates, I do it a lot.

Isis heard Seto's scream of pain, and paled as she rose from her light doze, and fairly flew to the couch, propelled even faster by Yugi's shrill cry of astonishment. The burning pain at her neck as her necklace suddenly flaired in fiery warning halted her footsteps, as she stepped back into the concealing shadows of the wall between them, her eyes wide and considering. What sort of magic could possibly make her necklace behave so erratically? Clutching a palm over the coiled jewels, she only continued to stare, trying to piece together the trigger to so much alarm. Her instincts were practically screaming in warning, as she drew back, with a frown, and only watched. She bit back the gasp when she saw Seto's bent back straighten to its full height, as he soared high above the couch and towered over Yugi. Eyes narrowing, she tilted her head to the side. There was something clearly amiss, from both the lack of blustering protest, and that odd, rasping voice that so violated her ears from the mere hearing of his words...

That wailing cry, if it was more than the by-product of her dark dreams, could not have come from Seto, if he was already up and striving about. She had seen the same enchantment performed on Yami--once--

and it left her king in an infantile state for many dark hours. Something was...wrong.

She continued to watch as Yugi excitedly proffered a glass of water to Seto, and was stunned to see the snarl, and Seto's blow that left Yugi sprawled out in a pool of broken glass and water. Yugi raised his shocked, wounded eyes, full of tears, as he scuttled away with a whimper. "I...I'm sorry, Seto, I didn't mean to upset you!" He blurted out, bewildered, brushing away the glass, and stooping to scoop it up with his small, shaking hands. She watched as Seto suddenly chuckled, and her heart froze at the dark, familiar lilt.

Quaking, her hand strayed to her necklace again, in protective instinct as the vicious, strangling realization seized the breath in her lungs. She had not heard that hated voice in over a thousand years, and yet, the familiar, hated cadence glided over her like water over a stone.

Seth. The man who had butchered her king, whose bloody knife and eerie smirk still haunted her nightmares, while Yami's choked last breath and body coiled in the twitching aftermath still begged for absolution that never came. A true monster reborn, if there was one. She glided backwards, fighting the mad urge to claw his throat out. There was still too much danger to the oblivous Yugi for her to openly attack.

And, now, Yugi was crouched beneath him, eyes wide with growing alarm at the absolute loathing that shimmered in Seto's eyes as he stared down at him, in distain.

"Seto?" Yugi whispered, absolutely flummoxed, his eyebrows crawling and disappearing under his golden bangs. He gave the silent room around him a troubled glance, and scooted away.

"How is it that a king would come to inhabit such a weak vessel, small one?" The harsh rasp was even more eerie when Yugi felt Seto's hand arch over his throat, and tilt his chin upward for a closer inspection. Yugi gulped, eyes bulging. "Seto? What are you doing? You're starting to worry me!"

Isis watched, numbly as Seth only kneeled, still maintaining his grip on Yugi's chin. Long fingers scraped over the carpet, the long fragment of broken glass cutting his palm, and weeping red as he raised it high to the lamplight. One glance at the bloody glass he held in his hand, and then, equally seeking eyes gauging the tender flesh against his palm. Seth raised the glass shard high, dagger sharp with his fathomless eyes only scathing over Yugi's tremoring frame.

"Seto? Stop this! You're going to hurt somebody!" Yugi's yelp of alarm was cut off by the strangling grip over his throat, as Seth rose to his full height.

No. It was impossible! Cold, cleansing fury flared through her veins as Isis summoned the considerable fire power of her Necklace, and raised her fingers in a high, beckoning arch. Magic flowed in a shower of golden flame from her dark hands,and she sent every shred of power into the volley that slammed Seth from behind.

She heard the violated snarl, the dull thud as Yugi was flung away like trash, his whimper as he scuttled to her side in bewildered terror. Seth staggered backwards several steps, before collapsing to his knees, his cerelian eyes meeting hers with all the vemonous promise he still had over the last few eons. Trembling, she glided between Seth and Yugi, shielding him with her flesh and wanning power as Yugi only gaped upward at her.

Wide eyes, he whispered, "What is going on?! Why would Seto do-"

"That is not Seto Kaiba." Isis interrupted the frightened spew, darkly. "And it is not safe for you, or your grandfather here. Remove yourselves imediately, and take the Puzzle with you. It may shield you when my powers no longer can."

"But-" Yugi's objection died on his lips as Isis only grit her teeth to ward off another attack. The shard of glass only ghosted over her sleeve as her protective incantation was invoked. She heard Seth's grunt of annoyance as he rose from his knees, and resumed his pantheresque crouch towards them, with that malicious grin. She rose, summoning courage and fire as she nudged Yugi forward, with a hissed whisper..

"You and your grandfather must flee! Take the Puzzle!"

Yugi stared up at her, the fear shimmering in his wide eyes as he pointed mutely at Seth. Isis's eyes narrowed darkly, as her lips curled in a menacing twist that shattered whatever illusion remained that she was only a serene slave of history.

"Your grandfather is on the porch. Go to him, and flee!"

Trembling hands gripped her wrists, as Yugi panted out, "But what about you?"

"I will be much more able to defend myself if I do not have others to protect. Go!"

Her face had turned to stone, and Yugi shivered. It was the same look that Yami had worn so long ago.

Isis had already turned her back to him to face Seth again.

Yugi whimpered again, and nodded, as he scrambled away from her and shot from the room towards the haven on the porch, and his grandfather. She smirked when she sensed the Puzzle being hastily scooped up and slung around Yugi's neck as he and his grandfather bolted from the house in blind panic. Warily, she turned back to Seth, uncertain of how much time she had bought them, but grateful that they were at least out of Seth's reach for the moment.

The Puzzle throbbed against his frail hands, and the golden chain dragged downward until he thought his neck would snap from the sheer weight of things that no mortal could ever bear. Yugi felt the coldness of the gold against his throat and wondered, in horror if it was a tomb for Yami as much as he feared. He heard his grandfather grunting beside him as the old man limped along, grousing about irritated knees and old age. Solomon had been awoken from a nap, and was most irritated, but seeing Yugi's tears was motivation enough to comply with the bizarre request to flee the Game Shop.

Yugi stumbled and gasped as the Puzzle suddenly twisted on its chain, dug one of its points into his throat, and drew a minute bit of blood. He heard Solomon's shrill cry of his name, as he grit his teeth in the effort to keep from falling on his face. The world swayed, his vision blurred, his heart hammered,and he felt the blood at his throat strangely warm though the cut was small. He felt Solomon's hands on his shoulders, as the old man tried to drag him away. Yugi stumbled onward, but only for a few more steps.

Darkness, madness, despair, regret. All merging into the vicious dance to the music of his own heartbeat that thundered in his dead chest. All of it seared through Yami's core, pouring through him with the potency of lava. The violated sense of wounded justice, and the horror of Seto's haunted voice...just an echo of the strength the billionaire used to have. Yami had allowed the pleasant thoughts of revenge to distract him for a few precious moments of vague planning, but... His flesh felt solid against his bones, but the scars across his throat ached fire as he drew closer to the small Game Shop, and the impending sense of danger grew as ominous as thunder.

It was the most eerie sensation, of the Puzzle's lilt, sweet and seductive as a lover's plea, drawing him inward with all its tempting power. Seto's torment burned bright across his conscious, and the horrific thought of Yugi and Isis and Mr. Moto suffering the fate that he had been bound to...Yami only quickened his pace. Mayhaps he drank the same corruption as Seth. Mayhaps he was beyond redemption, and hope was a mere teasing possibility, but it was something to cling to. Too long had he bowed his knees to the shadows and the pain, until he was broken and corrupted and mutilated everything that made him the just ruler he once was. He wondered if he could ever regain that lost soul again. Swallowing hard, Yami's thoughts only grew darker at the thought of Yugi being at the mercy of such a depraved, ressurected murderer. If Seth took such delight in hacking out his own flesh...that thought put the anguish into action, as Yami forced himself into a full-run.

Yami felt his aching muscles screaming in protest as he scooted to a rather undignified halt, his feet nearly slipping on the wet grass. Yami looked down at his mussed boots, and scowled, cursing his short legs, doubled over and panting. His rib hitched fire, and he nearly slid to his knees at the pain. Sliding an arm over the stabbing ache, Yami wondered, anew how such an old wound inflicted on an incorporal body possibly hurt so much still. (Author's Note: Those of you who really want to torment yourselves with the back story of Yami's rib should read the chapter called Betrayal in A Proud And Bitter Crown)

And, in his nearly blind swoon from the pain, he almost collapsed at Yugi's feet, in Yugi and Solomon's panicked bolt from the house. Yugi heard the grunt of pain, the hiss of sharp breath, his name whispered in disbelief. His eyes fell to the dark form that was clouded in the tree's shadows, now doubled over and clutching its side. Violet eyes, so much like his own, but so much deeper in their churning awareness with emotions he could not understand glowed down at him. A stern, regal scowl, crowned by the spikes of magenta, black and gold, as Yami stood, warily in the splintered light from the porch, trembling.

"Yami?!" The joyous squawk from Yugi, the sudden burst of arms around his already aching side nearly made Yami shriek as he numbly allowed Yugi to embrace him, too stunned to resist. To feel those familiar arms, betraying and healing lace over his spine, timidly in mind of his wounds...Yami gently shooed Yugi back, with a distancing arm between them, as he lowered his head. "Please, don't."

He whispered softly, still disbelieving that Yugi was solid and real, and not the product of a nightmare. From the instinctive recoil of his flesh against the invasive, unwelcome touch, Yami knew Yugi was all too real.


	24. Interlude

Yugi halted, stunned. "Yami? I won't...I won't hurt you. Please, what's wrong?" Yugi looked as if Yami had struck him, and Yami was too volital and numb to even muster a suitable reply for long moments. Yami said nothing, only raised his searing eyes to Yugi, his arms coiled and braced over his aching ribs as if to shield himself from attack. He was panting, pale, and hurting.  
"Yami?" The familiar kind voice, the memories of the betrayal made his heart clench as Yugi stared at him, with his eyes tearing up.  
Yami's face contorted as he buried his face in his hands, scrubbed away the futile throb, and only sighed, far past the weeping. Wearily, he shook his head. Ra, he knew he would have to face Yugi once more...but nothing had prepared him for how shattering it would be.

"Please understand, Yugi. I have to end this. I'm...sorry for all the suffering that I have brought to you, however hard I tried to protect you from it." His voice sounded like shattered glass being scraped over his raw throat. The apology sounded weak, and Yami felt his ire rise when he saw Yugi's wide-eyed inocence and that forgiving smile. Could so much suffering be so easily absolved?

Yami worried his lip with his teeth, wondering exactly what he had left to apologize for. After all the hurt that had been inflicted on him, despite his attempts to keep Yugi safe. After all the broken serenity he had fought so hard to claim from the Puzzle, to think thoughts that were his own, to have flesh that was his own, to have an existance not tethered by mutilated gold or the intentions, or mercies of others.  
And then to become the monster he never, never intended to be. Seto's tears leached bright in his memory, as did Seth's knife and Yugi's cruel boot heel as it slammed over his chest while he sobbed in pain.

With bitter, wry realization, Yami thought how thin the line between the betrayer and the betrayed had truly become. There was none of them now that were untainted, unncorrupted. Yami wondered, wearily, if redemption's price could possibly worse than what was being paid in this horrific moment of clarity. He so ferverently wished he had that realization back when he could have stopped himself.

Yugi was clearly wounded from Yami's plea to be left untouched. Yami made a faltering attempt to speak, but found he could not even begin to put into words all the whys, and the reasons, other than the obligatory submission to a wilted handshake from Yugi. Mercifully, Yugi abandoned both the attempt for an embrace, and explanation. Yugi only glanced at the scars at his neck, and then at Yami's forced effort not to strike him. "I'm sorry." He whispered, with sad acceptance. "Yami, there's just been too much that's happened to-"

Yami silenced him with a glare, and bitter, confirmning nod. "I know, Yugi."

Yami stared deeply into his eyes. "If there was a way to stop it all from happening...I...I would have spared you, Yugi. It is worth little now, after all that's transpired. But, please, know that I tried, and I paid a dear, dear price, despite the failure of it all."

It was the tear sliding down Yami's face that nearly broke Yugi's already fragmenting control. Swallowing hard, Yugi carefully laced his fingers over the golden chain around his neck, and bowed his head, sliding the Puzzle from the confines of his shirt. It burned ice against his shaking palms, and Yugi paled and sweated from the sheer strain of having the Item in his hands. The vicious hunger leaking from the gold nearly made him fall as he silently offered it to Yami.

It would have been kinder if Yami had been struck down, from his reaction to it. Yami's eyes shot open wide, disbelieving, as his jaw dropped in anguish. "The Puzzle." He whispered. The Puzzle. Prison, and home. The future and the past merging into this moment. The gateway out of the hell he was in now. The Puzzle shimmered in mute rememberance and radiated like a pearl in Yugi's shaking hands, ever hungry, ever waiting.

Yami could do nothing, say nothing, think nothing for a long, tormenting moment when even his thoughts had turned to ice, and his flesh to stone. He had expected rage to carry him through what his resolve would not, had hoped that some of the misery from the constant torture of pain and questions would at least grace him with enough strength to grab his salvation while he could. He never knew that they would fail him now.

The scars on his neck cried out in pain, hot, scarlet rememberence of his violated flesh wept in the overwhelming tide, as his fingers glided over the lattice-work of woven mockery of a necklace.

He faltered, gritting his teeth, amid Yugi's squeaking his name in concern. His hands slid over the dagger sharp points, his blood surged heat, as his tears turned jewel hard against the thunder of the ache. Yami forced himself to grip the burden, willingly slide it over his bowed head. It felt as if he had been under the root of a mountain. Swaying, he caught himself before he fell, as the disorienting sensations slithered through his heart like a burrowing worm and coiled in his gut to stay. The chain bit into his flesh as if it had grown teeth. With an astonished exhaled breath, Yami opened his eyes to see that he was still, but the world was still tilting and he was not sure if he had strength enough to carry it much further. He was astonished he was not consumed alive by the ache gnawing at his fraying awareness.

"Yami?" Yugi lingered, hesitantly. Yami turned to him, waiting. Yugi miserably shook his head. "Let me help you, please! I can't just walk away when Seto's gone nuts and Isis nearly burned herself up defending me! What can I do?"

Isis. Seto. Their names fell on his ears like breaking thunder. More blood to atone for, more inocents suffering because of him. Yugi yelped in suprise as Yami suddenly gripped his wrist, and yanked him close, to snarl. "Where are they?"

Yugi silently jabbed a finger at the house, shivering at his rage. "They're in the house, Yami. Seto...he collapsed, I don't know why, but then he woke up, and he wasn't...himself. I don't know what is wrong with him, Yami, but he threatened me. He's...he's not himself any more. Isis rescued me, and told me to take the Puzzle and leave! Isis isn't in danger, is she, Yami?"

Yami did not reply, only savored the all too familiar sensation of the dragon sliding pleasantly in his gut and the rage once again dissolving the fear, lending him strength, gracing his resolve with some much needed motivation. Grimly, he turned to Yugi.

"There is nothing left for you here, Yugi. Save your life, and do not return here."

Yugi squealed in terror and awe as Yami summoned a small inferno from his curled fingers and neatly reduced the door to a shower of splinters and ash. The hot wind nearly made Yugi gag as Yami turned to him, once more. "Good-bye, Yugi. Be...healed, please."

It was a lingering whisper, retreating into shadow, as Yami strode forth, his face revealing as stone and his eyes diamond hard. Yugi watched as Yami disappeared into the doorway, the Puzzle still winking gold in the darkness.

It was dark and as inviting as a tomb, and Yami had not felt this...desolute and empty since he had taken that last long walk to the sacrificial altar. His footsteps sounded almost loudly intrusive as he warily stepped around the shattered remains of the door. The silence and the dark were unnerving, alarming, and concealing as Yami

"Listen to me, runt!" The words were hissed out, as he felt his fingers being clamped down, and curled up in Seto's fist, as he hauled him to his feet, and forced him to stand. Seto sagged, but did not wilt any more, only snarled out, "Quit the damn waterworks and pay attention."

"Kaiba?!"

The ummistakable glare of those icy eyes, the scowl of strain, and not cruelty, and even the subtle wilting of his frame revealed it was Seto.  
His frame quivered. The words floated up between them like the last breath of the drowning breaking the surface. With a deep sigh, Seto only nodded.

"For however long I can hold the bastard back, yes, it's Kaiba. I don't have time for social pleasntries, as I have a maniac running around in my brain. Only you can end this. Got it?!"

Yami nodded, stunned. "What do I need to do?"

Seto jabbed a finger at the Puzzle. "You have to end this. For me."

"But what about you?" Yami blanched when Seto only gave a negating shrug of dismissal. With a weary, bitter sigh he only quirked an eyebrow, smirked and shook his head in resignation.

"I can't stand to be the container any more. It's too cheap a price to stay alive, if you can even call this an existance. My life is so screwed up now, anyway...I don't know if there's anything worth salvaging. Besides..." Seto's eyes narrowed, as his fists curled, and his mouth turned into a harsh, resolute scowl.

"I know what this bastard has done, and what he intends to do once...once I'm gone." Set paled with a shiver. Soflty, he continued, in a sad, accepting whisper, "and as heartless as I am...I can't...I can't let that happen." 


	25. Downfall

Downfall...

Of all the bitter, ironic twists of fate, of all the curses and nightmares that had haunted him even as a child,  
nothing in heaven, or hell had ever prepared Seto for an ending such as this. The vicious battle for even a thought, the groping through his own decaying mind to shore up the last of himself, the horrifiying awareness that he was fading into the dark, and emerging a monster. Seto could feel the last of himself fraying on ever thinning cords. So frail, and so stretched were the burdened tethers that kept him anchored to the reality of who he was. Vaguely, he wondered if he would remember himself, or even if he wanted to.  
If his existance was reduced to the haunted remnant of a memory, a shadow lurking in the graveyard of his own intellect...he would gladly choose the finality of death to save himself from such a wrenching horror.  
If he had control of the body, he would have trembled. Had he the emotions left, he would have wept, unabashed, and pleaded for a mercy he was no longer sure he had enough faith to hope for. He could feel Seth's rage falling like fiery tears across the tatters of his coat, the grotesque whispers cloaked in his own voice about the abyss that was waiting, the hungry beasts in the dark, unsated by the thought of his demise.  
And over all of it, with the force of a gathering inferno, sucking his last reserves with the glee of a parasite, Seth was cackling as Seto slowly, and unwillingly crumbled in achingly slow surrender. Each moment that he resisted, each precious bit of knowledge he had delivered to Yami was paid in full by his own breaking. Outwardly, though, Seto still maintained the concealing snarl, the precious facade between the fire in his mind and the breaking of his heart. He could feel Seth steadily mounting another attack, the dagger being drawn back with a smirk, the thirst for blood violating against Seto's own morality of killing for the hell of it.  
He was drowning again, and had so little time left...

"Damn it." Seto's words exploded as he groaned in expectant rancor. Yami watched warily as Seto's jaw and fists clenched and paled, with a barely restrained whimper.

"Kaiba?"

Seto clutched uselessly at the growing ache in his skull, cringing away from Yami's stare in humilation. Biting his lip til it bled, Seto tapped his temple, splayed his fingers in a wide arch, and choked, unable to form words, beyond the drowning gurgle.

Yami sprang back, trembling. Seto managed a strangled squeal, as he jabbed a finger like a blade to his forehead panting. Yami heard his last word, mangled and garbled by his jaws and eyes slamming shut against his will. "S...Seth!" Seto hurled the last word, ending with a wailing cry and a lurch. Yami could only watch, helplessly. Seto wilted, his azure eyes flaring bright with a plea as they fluttered shut. Seto collapsed into a slow slither downward, until he lay curled and still at Yami's feet.

The warning fell like rain over the breaking silence, over his shattered heart, as Yami stood, seared by the guilt and the loss that he could not reconcile with any justice.

Of all the summation of Seth's perverted existance, his own failed redemption, the deception and wasted bitterness, the bright hatred that blossomed into the dark garden of his own cruelty, Seth had never considered the slight possibility that his murder victim would be anything less than...dead, or shattered. It was an unnecessary stroke of ego to provoke and wound Yami when he decided to parade about in Seto's mortal shell. He heard Seto's last whispered curse, the recoil, then nothing. Seth smirked to see that he had finally crushed Seto's will into submitting oblivion. The echo of Seto's existance had broken, left the bright shards of ice glittering with his tears.

Seto's only eulogy was the snort and smirk of distain as Seth took control, and rose. He heard Yami's sudden inhalation of breath against his clenched teeth. Yami only stared at the perverse ressurection of Seth now flouting Seto's flesh with a sneer of rememberance.

It was the same blood-tainted nightmare that had haunted him for the last thousand years, his most hated enemy standing over him, with the dagger dripping from his stabs. His throat seared as if cut anew, and Yami felt as if he were dying again. Seth only smirked and raised the silver dagger with its fluted handle, nodding in satisfied confirmation. "Yes, my king. This dagger you recognize is the one and the same I slit your throat with so long ago."

Yami had no luxury of denial when Seth greeted him with a bright cackle that echoed through the room, raised the blade, and happily carved Seto's cheek with a long cut. Seto's flesh wept scarlet, but the azure eyes were filled with alien malice. The face was only a mask, the body only a vessle, and Yami shivered to see Seto's body so violated.

Yami's eyes flickered with numb indifference,as he followed the shining dagger, his hand helplessly clutching at his throat to shield the scars from being slashed open again.

"My king." Seth purred, as he gave Yami's scars a mocking caress with the blade, as Yami stood still and transfixed with paralyzed anguish. Not this again, he mused, in a stupor so far removed from ordinary fear.  
Anything but this... 


	26. Summoning The Fire

Time had fallen like snow and died with the thundering roar that filled the silence. The dagger had arched high, and then

trailed downward, the glittering point a falling star in Yami's narrowed field of vision, as he staggered backwards and barely

avoided a decapitation. His tormented, warring instincts had suddenly flared into frenzied movement and Yami

bolted out of the blade's path in one hasty pivot. He heard Seth hiss like a wet cat as the blade was buried into the wall

just behind Yami's head hilt deep. Yami felt scarlet heat dripping down his shoulder, and he absently realized that his ear

had been cut open by the slice.

Seth snarled, wrapped his bloodied knuckles over the hilt, and with a violent jerk, yanked it out of the wall. Eyes narrowed

in sick rapture at the red gore dripping from the edge of the blade, Seth only offered Yami a sadistic smirk, as he unwrapped

the sleeve from one long arm, and slashed a slow, deliberate scarlet line into the flesh. He smirked when he felt Seto's revulsion

and appalled shriek at the violated skin.

"One scar, for rememberance, my king. Each time Kaiba glances at this arm, he will be reminded of what has transpired here."

Seth raised the dagger high, and then lightly ghosted the blade over Seto's high cheek bone. With a mocking nod, he carved

out another testiment to his perverse existance, a bright cut where tears would flow over. Indeed, it would mar Seto's cheek

forever.

Blindly, Seto remembered falling inwards, the cruel blow that sent him flying downwards, the collapse...and then, nothing.

He remembered being crushed by a force, intending to grind out his existance as if he were no more worthy of it than a cockroach..

And, then...violet eyes, staring up at him a beseeching plea. His last breath squandered on hissing a name they both hated.

Hands, not Seto's own, gripping the silver dagger, and raising it high in ironic salute. Intentions, not his own, of not just a simple

murder, but to torture and inflict agony first. From Yami's trembling, Seto has shrieked in denial, willing his hands to stop, his flesh

to obey him. He watched with a smirk, if he had the lips to do so, as the dagger halted in its deadly trail, and he felt Seth's roar

of frustration as Seto's will kept the dagger from plunging downward. The fiery agony that followed felt as if he were being

chewed alive by a dragon, and he could only force Seth's grip to tighten for a few more moments before the pain overcame his

will and Seto relinguished it with a groan. He shivered when he felt Seth's silken promise of retribution wafting heat down his

already tormented flesh. Seto let out a growl of frustration to see that he had only bought Yami a few more moments of life.

Helplessly, he could only watch as Yami stared in tears at the dagger, the memories and the suffering overcoming the fiery will, even though

Seto was screaming silently for Yami to _do something, damn it!_

Yami could only shiver in the cruel grip of the agony, hands raised uselessly in defense, the Puzzle dangling in mute bronze, rather than

its brilliant gold. It seemed that its considerable fire power had died with Yami's courage. Indeed, Yami was agonized, and so close to

shattering completely, Seto was suprised that he was still able to remain upright.

So, when the few feet of distance between the killer and his intended victim suddenly vibrated, and then melted into an inferno, Yami

could only stagger away in shock as Seth hissed like an angry cat and whipped around to see the cause of the interference.

If the first attack proved painful, the second one was crippling.

The sudden volley of Isis's attack engulfed Seto's vision in white heat, and Seto felt Seth's repugnance mixed with irritation and fear as he saw her. Seto felt the fire lace up his spine,then burn against him, as Seth pivoted sharply in the direction of the golden sparks to the dark corner of the room.

The world swirled, the room was illuminated with flames sky high as his body staggered then fell from the uenxpected blow. He had landed with a dull thud, his cheek nestled on the carpet, and his eyes open in shock to see Isis with her hands curled in a protective circle and her necklace shimmering with the afterglow of the spell. Seto yelped in pain as Seth delivered his quivering spirit a punishing blow, and nearly broke him again.

Yami felt slender, reassuring hands gently kneading his rigid shoulders, as her angelic voice whispered his name. "Isis?!" Yami whispered, in

delighted disbelief as Isis only graced him with a soft smile of understanding. Lacing her fingers through the magenta bangs, she braced the small

king across her own body, shielding him from another attack. Facing Seth directly, her necklace burned even brighter and the golden glow

swathed off her fingers at her commanded chant.

"You will relinguish the flesh back to Seto." Her voice rolled like thunder, and she indeed looked as if she were made of a stormcloud, from both the

frail white of her garb, and the lightening that danced fire from fingertip to glowing finger tip. She rose high, enraged, and eerily focused. Her eyes

glowed through the shadows that filled the room,and Yami was awed to see Isis summoning her full power. She looked every bit the goddess she was

named for.

With a grunt, Seth rose to his feet, hands floundering as the dagger burned white with heat and seared him like a brand, before it clattered harmlessly

at Isis's feet.

Isis only rewarded him with a smug, coy arch of an eyebrow, as she gestured towards her necklace in silent mocking.

"You will not hurt my king, nor will you imprison Seto Kaiba." Her voice was serene and cold over the silence as she stood, gracefully.

The broken cackle, the calculating tilt of Seth's head as he only sneered and swathed his eyes over her as if she were already his

made Yami shudder. Isis was the one blessed tethor of certainty in all the madness that surrounded them.

Seth only chuckled coldly. "You are most correct, my lady, as there would be little point in pursuing that path, _now. _Seto Kaiba has been reduced

to a thought, a fragment. Granted, I wasn't so merciful as to crush his awareness. He's very much present here with us...but unable to do more

than wail and cry at his own weakness. As for our beloved king...look well upon him, lady Isis. Look well upon the cowering dog that is now

trembling at your feet like a child and pleading for an ending he knows he is not worthy of."

"You snake." She shuddered to hear the mutilation of Yami's regal cadence, now dragged down to a gutteral snarl of icy rage. Yami abruptly shoved Isis

behind him, protectively, his fist clinging to her fingers as she was flung from between them.

"For five thousand years, I have bled from your torture, your lies, your _evil._ You imprisoned me and made me a monster, all the while pretending that

you were redeemed and were willing to bear my pain as penance. And now, you use the vessel of yet another inocent to perpetuate your own corruption?!

By the blood of my father, and the scars on my neck, Seth, you are worthy of a fate far worse than the Shadows could grant you.

"Understand this, Seth. I do not delight in slaying you because of revenge. I am killing you because it is the only way left to me to ensure that you never

haunt me again. I am taking your life because it is the only way to bring back the inocent and rid this place of your evil. And in that...I pray..that this madness will

be over with and I will at last...be free."

Isis flinched at the harsh, smug purr of Yami's voice as he stepped between them. "You are worthy to be damned."


	27. A Taste of Hell

_It was a sound like a dying animal wailing for the final blow to end its suffering. It was a sob like a scream, and a scream wilting into its final submission. Seto's shadowed hands pounded against the confines of the abyss around him, and he growled in frustration to see his hands only sink into the walls like a stone thrown into water. He never, never thought, in all his lofty, egotistical musings, or even in his darkest nightmare, that his ending would ever be this horrific. Seto could only watch, a helpless spectator to his own demise. There was no certainty, or solace in an ending to this, because it had the makings of never ending at all. _

_Seto hissed in pain as Seth's mocking chuckle at his condition had been emphasized by another cruel blow that fell unseen on his spirit, and crushed it a bit more. Seto shivered in revulsion. There was no defense against something so strong, no balm for such a rampant violation of corrupting his body and breaking his heart and mind. It was every bit the hell Seth had promised, and then some. How could he hurt so much if he had no flesh to speak of any more? How could pain even exist if...he didn't? Seto felt the chill of horror curdling in his already quaking nerves as he grit his teeth-if he had them, and only watched helplessly as his perverse shell continued its wake of such vindictive cruelty. Seto was powerless to stop anything now, and where his mighty intentions had once thundered down the abyss, it was now only an echo, a shadow, a passing annoyance that Seth only grunted at in amusement._

_He had managed for a brief, triumphant moment, to wrest control of his body back. To feel his own existance pouring back into itself was unnerving, but so wonderful as Seto felt himself adjust to his body like he might put on a comfortable coat. It was dearly, dearly familiar. It was during a brief interlude when Seth's attention was drawn away and the barriers lax enough to allow Seto a dangerous gamble to claw his way upward and outward for a few precious moments, before Seto was abruptly yanked away and hurled down into the darkness again with a punishing wake of fire across his spine. Seto had only whimpered in answer, too stricken to do anything else from the shock and the pain._

_He felt his hands gripping cold blade, his arms raised in a high arch, saw Yami's quivering throat beneath him, in the dagger's path, and thought he was going to vomit from the absolute brutality of it all. Sure, Seto could be a vindictive bastard, but never, ever had he even entertained the possibility of actual murder._

_And here it was, his own body committing the ultiment treachery of severing an existance. He had managed to halt the dagger's arch for a few seconds, and now paid for it with an eternity._

_Madness, or forever? Melting or drowning? Seto knew that if he ever were inflicted with madness, it would have been in his former life as Seto Kaiba, for now_

_he was the insanity itself. What else could a person, now reduced to a spirit's fragment be if they resided in somebody's mind?! Forever...Seto shivered, as the tears welled again. He had meant every word that it would have been more merciful to die and be done with it than exist this way. He sincerely hoped that Yami would come to his senses and do what needed to be done to solve the problem, even if it meant killing Seto himself. It was a price that Seto found himself almost eager to pay if it mean that this would finally be over with._

If Ra himself had been summoned into that small room, and Seth was dragged in chains to await his judgement, he wasn't sure that it could possibly inspire any more awe, or fear than the sight ofYami enraged. There was no sound, except Yami's measured breaths, the slide of his violet eyes

corroding from their fear to obsidion darkness, the glint of the Puzzle as the wanning light glided off of it. It had gone from dead bronze and cold metal to white heat in seconds and Yami only offered an ironic, casual smirk at Isis's gaping awe. With glee, he held palms to the points of the Puzzle, and then let out a low, velvet chuckle as he pressed his flesh against the edges until blood broke through and began to weep from his hands. Yami slowly raised his bleeding palms wide. Isis cringed at the stench of Yami's burning flesh, and wondered for one tortured moment if Yami had finally slid too far into corruption to be redeemed.

The Puzzle twisted against his flesh, like an uncertain cat, but then went from cold bronze to the flare of molten lava within a matter of moments. The darkness lapped at her spine like a waiting ocean wave. Isis shuddered.

Yami slid out from under Isis's grasp without a backward glance, but still kept his body between them as a shield.

With a snarl, Yami clawed at his violated neck, and hissed, "It is only fitting, Seth, that you see the final outworking of your sadism, the full retribution of 5000 years of suffering. Every tear, every memory, every savage moment that I've been forced to endure, all of it, given back to you, here and now."

Seth stared in horror as the scars on Yami's neck were suddenly bathed in the white heat, arching across his neck like lightening, and splitting over the trembling collar to dance neatly over Yami's fingers that rose high and splayed in a gesture of ironic welcome. It was as if Yami was bleeding

pearled light instead of blood.

Seto only met the display of power with a cold glare of his own, and a sneer, as he draped fingers over the dagger at his feet. Yami only stared, waiting expectantly. Isis cried out in alarm, only to be stopped by Yami's smug gesture directing her gaze to his throat.

"Will you really fulfill that promise, my king? Or will you only bleed and squeal like a gutted animal the way you did the first time? Tell me, what exactly was it like, my king...to lay there and feel your blood trickling away while you lay helplessly dying in so much needless suffering? Was it as painful as you made it appear, or was the tears only for theatric effect?"

The taunt only made Yami's lip curl in acknowledgement, the rage and the pain shaking off any luxurious indulgence in self-pity now.

Yami's face had gone alabaster and rigidly cold as he only shook his head in dismissal. "What I endured will be little more than a passing ache compared to your eternity, Seth. Enjoy your last moments of life, if you will, but I would suggest you start pleading with God for mercy, as you won't recieve any more from me." Isis could not tell if the frigidness in his voice was harsher than the ice in his eyes as Yami only resumed his patient, casual sneer.

"And as you are about to see, my dear Seth, dying is hardly the worst of your woes,_now."_ His voice was almost soft and sad, as Yami raised his chin high, as if in waiting for the deathblow.

"I relish the thought of you screaming and crying for another thousand years, my king."

Seto's shriek thundered through the confines of his cranium, the wail of guilt and horror as the dagger slid high, and then downward in one final, sick arch. Isis only had time to cry out, as Yami tilted his set chin high as if in welcome. And smirked.

Seth's dagger slid into his flesh, hilt deep, the silver arching into Yami's throat. Seth's triumphant cackle abruptly died with the less than pleasant revelation that Yami hadn't fallen dead at his feet.Indeed, the Pharoah was only glaring down at the dagger's handle with an eyebrow raised in annoyance as he casually gripped the hilt and yanked it out with a grunt.Isis looked, stunned, to see that the long, horrific scar had desentiegrated into unmarred flesh.

.

Every graveyard memory had opened and relinguished each of its ghost, each mutilation of Yami's perverted existance vomited forth rage, and each chained and bound bit of power locked away within the depths of the Puzzle suddenly errupted into one cataclysmic firestorm, spilling forth in obedience to Yami's casual flick of finger.

.


	28. Lament for the Torturedextremely gory

Italics are Seto's viewpoint, extreme angst, gore, and suffering. Don't read on a full stomache.

I think this is the darkest chapter I have written.

Firestorm

_He had heard of the world ending in fire, or ice, and always thought the combination of the two ludicrious. Vague ideas of an_

_impending apocolypse belonged to the religious, and the bored, or maybe the insane.Now,after feeling himself melt like_

_the ice that he was always associated with, and seeing the perverse Egyptian spirit of Yami conjure up nothing less than _

_a cataclysmic firestorm in the living room...Seto's thoughts already throbbed with the mental work it would take to sort_

_out the issues arising in the aftermath...if he lived, and if...he could. Seto trembled at the thought of being roasted_

_alive, his flesh being seared in an inocent attonement for wrongs he never committed, a sacrifice for a crime he_

_had nothing to do with. Liberation? Deliverance? He had heard of gold being casually thrown into the fire to be melted_

_down and reshaped to a more suitable form._

_But, flesh burned, bones broke..and existances were severed. Ghosts might have been nothing more than the lingering _

_memories of his soul, he did not know, and prayed ferverently he would not have to. Seto had watched and recoiled at the_

_feel of such cold metal against his clenched fingers...and to actually watch as the dagger in his hand was rammed down_

_bone deep, to where any human being would have screamed and died had left him numb. There was just simply no more_

_fear in him left, not after all that he had been put through and unleashed. There was only torpid, seething anguish, fogged_

_awareness, regret harsh as the dagger itself, and paralysis that he could not stop. Seto wondered, with a bitter smirk of_

_perverse irony, if he would become a ghost haunting the living tomb of his mortal shell, if he would have any sensation_

_left, or if merciful God would finally grant him sweet oblivion beyond this anguish. _

_He thought he had long crossed the threshold for tolerating cruelty, and insanity. It was a fairytale, he realized, with_

_broken loathing at everything. The fairytale that there were any limits to bind the evil he was now both_

_vessel and slave to had crumbled when Seth had thought it necessary to recreate the treacherous act of murder anew._

_Seto's own soul cried out at the violation against it as his hands slid oblivious to his will, with such hideous intent._

_He nearly vomited when he heard the soft squelch of the blade piercing guts and the harsh jarring as it sliced bone as well._

_He had thought...horribly wrong, again. He saw Yami's sarcastic, knowing smirk, the chin lifting and Yami standing so _

_still, as if waiting...and Seto realized that he was. Was it suicide, or deliverance? Seto did not know that, either._

_Yami did all but slit his own throat, and did nothing to defend himself, only gesturing in perverse invitation, and then _

_ripped the blade away as quickly as a naughty child might rip away an unwanted scab. And then Yami's flesh seemed to_

_ripple like water, and the old, jagged scars somehow disentigrated, leaving smooth, unmarred skin. _

_Seto felt Seth's chill of both realization and absolute terror at this new development, felt him recoil in shock and rage._

_Seto felt his lips set in a deliberating snarl, as Seth backed away from the alarming amount of fire that was suddenly_

_pouring forth from Yami's splayed fingers. The Puzzle was shimmering as if alive, and Seto could feel its power _

_throbbing through his bones like a dull ache, little more than a strong tug from a magnet, as Yami caressed it, uttering_

_some dark curse under his breath that made Isis pale even more._

_Isis. She was still in her wary, panther like crouch from where Yami had flung her away, her dark hair falling like black_

_rain over her bent shoulders, her saphire eyes glittering and staring, narrowed and waiting for something horrific._

_"My king!" She hissed, and was ignored by Yami's widening smirk as he propelled the flames even higher in a dizzying arch._

_Seto could only imagine Yami's already fragmenting self-control breaking into complete pyschosis and him cheerfully roasting_

_everybody there alive for the hell of it. There was nothing from Yami indicating any plan on saving himself, or Isis, or Seto._

_Just the chuckle of perverse mirth at his own fluctuating power, and the glee of a kid who had finally gotten its toy._

_Yami suddenly sent a fiery rain down over Seto's body with a cackle, and Seto shut his eyes, expecting nothing less than_

_to be reduced to ash in a moment. He felt Seth's shiver of revulsion, as his eyes instinctively slammed shut. The fire_

_arched around him in a bright distant ring, only to burn harmlessly at his feet. Seth opened his eyes in confusion to _

_see Yami only staring at him solemnly with a dark grin on his face and one hand coiled over the blade. There was no time_

_to even understand that Seth-or at least Seto's body- hadn't been slain, before Yami only took the blade and ghosted_

_a trembling finger tip over the edge, as his lips curled into a vicious snarl of rememberence. One of Yami's quivering_

_fingers slid up to his throat, and he stared up at Seth with nothing but patient, deliberate intention, and rage._

_The Puzzle twisted on the chain, as if seeking, its color paling from gold to white heat as if cast in lightening. Yami_

_gently palmed it, as the light curled off in diaphamourous tendrils of wafting glow. Seto only heard the dark curse,_

_burbling up from Yami's lips like poison, and shivered in numb recognition. It was the exact incantation that was used on _

_him when Yami went through his little demented torture session. Seto fought the whimper of dread as Yami eyed his own_

_throat with hunger and the blade dancing dull silver next to the near blinding brilliance of the golden Puzzle. _

_Seto felt his muscles going slack as water, yet again, yielding and sliding downward in sudden, terrifying paralysis, as_

_everything turned to ice and froze beyond his will to move. He could feel Seth's confused rage, coiling in and around itself_

_like a demented serpent, trying and failing to writhe its way to escape. Either the world had finally fallen down, or his body had_

_just folded itself into a quivering heap of fear at Yami's feet, because one moment, Seth was upright, and the next, he was_

_sprawled and quaking. Yami's face, cloaked in shadow, looked absolutely demonic with the cracked smile, and the dagger_

_raising high into a deadly, splintering arc, completely defenseless._

_Yami merely tilted his head to the side, deliberately slow and mocking as he suddenly snapped his fingers and the flames _

_dissolved into air except for the small illumination that was now glinting off the gleaming dagger. A slice of Yami's face_

_was glowing red, and revealed the contorted features, the gleeful, perverted joy. _

_"It was said in Egypt that an evil man has no empathy for his victims, but only understands the torture if inflicted in retribution._

_Tell me something, Seth. Exactly how much of your existance do I need to slice away to be free of all this? A heart? A breath?_

_Or should I just hack your throat out like you did mine and leave you bleeding? There is no absolution in vengence, Seth._

_But there is a hell of a lot of satisfaction in hearing you scream and cry for the mercy you never gave me."_

_That was the only prelude to the blinding, searing pain as the blade suddenly arched downward, and sawed through the flesh of_

_Seto's shoulder. The wailing cry of agony seemed to be shared by Isis as she lurched forward, her face ravaged with tears,_

_and one hand clapped over her mouth in horror. There was no time to do more to prepare himself for the next assault as_

_the blade arched fire across his cheek and Seto felt the hot, seething blood dripping down his face in a steady stream._

_Yami merely smirked at his 'artwork' as Isis started to tremble, stricken._

_Seto shuddered, a bone tremor that reverberated deep in his core at the violated mutilation and the overwhelming pain, but_

_could do no more but weep, since he could no longer scream._

_He heard Isis's hissing intake of breath, as she pivoted with a sharp jerk, towards her once beloved king. Sliding to her knees next_

_to Seto's crumbling body, she was shielding him from any more cruelty for the moment, at least. With her shaking fingers _

_knotting themselves into beseeching fists, and her eyes shimmering with brilliant tears, she started her last plea._

_"Yami, my king...stop this, please!!" Yami only raised the blade and an eyebrow with dismissing irritation as he wiped the blood_

_free from his fingers, and watched it pool around Seto's shoulder with a sneer. Annoyed, he turned back to Isis, with one raw,_

_anguished word heaved out._

_"Why?! What have I done to this monster that cannot be completely justified by what he did to me?! I was innocent!!"_

_And it was in that tortured moment that Seth perversely retreated into the confines of Seto's mind, leaving Seto to deal with the_

_full brunt of the pain and the misery, only able to lay there completely defenseless. Isis paled even more to hear the gurgling wince, and the_

_slow spill of tears trickling down Seto's bloodied cheek._

_With a snarl, Isis jabbed a quaking finger at the wilted, scarlet face that was contorted at her knees, "So is Seto!! Yami, you sadistic fool!!_

_It is not retribution, it is torture!! Seth has made you the monster, do you not see that?!"_


	29. Desecration

There was nothing but heavy, unbearable silence as the dagger abruptly halted in its high arch for the death blow to Seto's throat.  
Seto saw both the silver blade and Yami's body quiver, tormented by Isis's shrill cry and the question that had exploded every pretense he had justified for this moment. Lurching slowly, Yami's mouth twisted into a grim line of dangerous contemplation as he turned finally to face Isis. His eyes had gone from warm violent to storm-dark, and Isis nearly faltered in her resolve as her once beloved king only hitched an irritated shoulder in a half-shrug.

"Torture? And what exactly do you consider my existance from my death until now to be, Isis? Were I to cut him into pieces, slowly or quickly,  
it would never be enough. But to see him suffer...helps."

And Yami slowly carved a bright red line over Kaiba's crumbling brow, and smirked at the high whine of pain that answered. Seto felt white fire arching across his forehead, as the blood slowly dripped into his eyes. His whole body convulsed into a shiver as he slowly went into shock from the loss of blood and the overwhelming pain.

"Isis." Her name was hissed in a mutilated hitch of breath, as he narrowed his eyes and abruptly drove the blade hilt deep into the wooden wall beside her ear. Isis winced when she felt some strands of her hair being sliced away. He gave her a coy, brittle smile, and slowly forced his fingers to unlatch the clenching grip of the hilt. Isis glanced at the dagger, gaping before she turned back to Yami, cowering for a tense, tortured moment.

With a shaking breath, Isis forced herself to rise, her Necklace shimmering dully as the fire rose to her eyes again, and her mouth set itself into a fierce, but oddly dignified snarl. "Forgive me, my once beloved king. Forgive me, for what I contributed to your corruption, and for my mercy in allowing your torture to continue in the now lost hope that you could be redeemed. Forgive me for what I am about to do, for I will not be able to forgive myself." It was said with the reverence of a prayer, and the eerie finality of a eulogy.

Yami only stared at her, with a shake of his head, his mouth curled in bittersweet resolve. "Isis, my friend...you fail to understand so much,  
despite your gifts of perception, and your unwavering sense of right. So much nobility, and so much bravery. I chose a worthy sucessor when I departed from your time. So, I am beyound redemption in your rightous eyes? You are so blessed with knowledge and judgement that your wisdom rivals that of God? Very well, then. I will give you your precious chance to make this right." With a sneer, Yami suddenly reached for her throat and she shuddered with a cry. Yami's unwelcome hand only trailed gently on her shoulder for a long moment, lingering sadly, and then he ripped the dagger out of the wall with one grunt.

Isis nearly yelped when she felt the cold handle shoved into her hand, his cool fingers sliding over hers, and forcing their hands to curl over the handle.  
Yami stepped away, his eyes churning with so much volital emotions, and his arms spread wide, fingers arching high, showing he meant no harm, that he was defenseless.

With an almost casual flourish, Yami casually waved at his exposed throat, as he took the chain from his neck and let the Puzzle dangle in his hand.  
"I am willingly placing myself at your mercy and judgement, my lady." Yami gave her a cold, formal bow, a cold mockery to his once noble manners as Pharoah. "If you believe me to be a monster, Isis. If you believe me to be beyond mercy, or unworthy of it, then carry out the sentence your sense of justice requires, and end this the way you know it has to be. Kill me, my lady."

Yami watched as the tears rose in her eyes, and she trembled as if struck. Then her eyes glittered with rage, rather than tears. Both the necklace glittered cold as a dying star, as she drew back the dagger, her face flat and cold, and eerily cruel. She just shook her head.

"Whether or not you are worthy of death for your actions is not my judgement to make, my king. But whether or not you can remain alive is, unfortunately,  
an easy question for me to answer."

And her answer came as she swathed the dagger in pure light and aimed for the killing blow at Yami's throat.

Seth could not help the smirk as he retreated deeper into Seto's mind, much like a worm burrowing further into the dark, as Seto watched Yami baring his neck like a perverse offering. Choking, he could only spit out the garbled words, "Stop..."

. His other arm had been hacked to the bone, and hung limp and bloody at his side, violated and useless. Seto glanced at it, and nearly vomited. He could no longer feel the throbbing of the wound, the hot scarlet weeping its sick requiem to Yami's madness in a silent stream. Helpless, hopeless, and gone numb beyond the broken flesh, the suffering, Seto only made a violent slashing motion across his neck, and whispered, raw, and harsh, "Stop!! I...don' wan'" He grunted in frustration, then wildly shook his head.

"Not like this." Yami turned to him with a raised eyebrow, astonished, as he tilted his head to the side in wry amusement. "After all that I've done to you, you plead for mercy on my behalf? Why?"

Seto only whimpered in anguish as his face suddenly went slack when Seth had wrestled control away again, and sneered in answer, "No, my dear king.  
I wish to see you suffer and bleed as much as you did when that knife first caused all of this. You suffered and cringed like a dog underneith my hand,  
my king, but you died under hers. Do you think it wise to place yourself at the mercy of the one who murdered you in the first place? Or did that minor detail slip your already broken mind?"

The memories came unbidden, swirling about him with all their claws and teeth waiting. Laying there, in bloody agony, feeling the very bones in his neck chilling from the air around him, as his breath wheezed and hitched through the hole. Isis...crouching over him, her eyes pleading for some absolution she knew she could not give, for the pain she could not stop. Yami lay there, splayed out and scarlet from his ears to his ribs, the red puddle only growing as his once pristine white tunic was flooded by the bloodflow that kept burbling up like an undammed river. She felt the dagger against her flesh,  
saw Yami's convulsion of unbearable suffering, the horrific outcome of something that was supposed to release him. With a cry of anguish, and desperation,  
she slammed the dagger with both hands down into his chest with one trembling, successful slice. The dagger cleaved through his heart as Yami's body went limp with one final sigh. The lax surrender was a sickening contrast to the coiled, twitching torment of the death throes, and Isis had nearly swooned at the brutality of it all.

Isis snarled, vemenently, "It was a brutal act of necessity! He was bleeding from a gaping hole in his throat and weeping after you slashed him open from ear to ear. It was a fatal wound, and allowing him to die by it would have only prolonged his suffering. There was nothing else that could have been done!"

Seth only chuckled, brutally as he shook his head, in slow, snickering amusement. "You accuse me of murder, my dear Isis, but there's far more blood on your hands when you actually carried out the death blow. Regardless of your attempts to alter the truth, it was by your hand your beloved king died like a gutted animal."

"But it was by your hand that I suffered so needlessly. It was your savage thirst for depravity that condemned me to the Puzzle, condemned Seto to this broken existance in his own body. All of your cruelty, each senseless act of brutal, blind rage, or idle, curious cruelty that made me into this...ghost of what I used to be..shall be repaid." Yami whispered, softly, as he smirked. The Puzzle was growing gold in his cradled hands. 


	30. Raw

_So, here it is at last. The brutal moment of my truth. If I am worthy of redemption, or if I can just cast it all off..love, faith, the future,_

_into one cataclysmic firestorm in one perverted sacrifice for vengence. Here Seto lies between me...an unwitting vessel of my enemy_

_and a suffering inocent caught in the crossfire. Slay Seth, and he perishes. Allow Seth to live, and Seto becomes a prisoner whose _

_chains cannot be broken._

The scars at his throat iced into itching fire, as his torpid fingertips continued their considering caress over the Puzzle as it twisted

in his hands. He felt the raw ache of power surging through it, fighting his restraint like a caged tiger. Yami only caressed it with dark

promise. Soon enough the Puzzle would work its own perverse justice and all of this hell he was caught in would be over with, never to

return. The cost to him, or anybody else be damned. Somewhere in the roaring of his ear and his own thoughts, he heard Isis's choking,

disbelieving horror as the dagger still dangled in her rapidly slacking fingers. From that snarl to that hard, brittle fury that had lit her eyes,

Yami's heart clenched in

brief remorse that Isis had finally surrendered to her more base instincts and was now prepared to slay him as he so invited her to.

He saw the overwhelming grief, the silent requiem of tears brimming in her eyes and falling so silently down her cheeks. She was weeping

but not for him. It was in memory of who he was, in sad reminder of his sacrifice so tainted with his own corruption. Seto's blood, and Yugi's

violated existance, and Isis's own fragmented heart all weighed on him so heavily, as he twisted the Puzzle again and again, allowing

it to cut his palms til they bled scarlet against the gold. Blood...Yami mused, bitterly. Always so much a perverted price for atonement.

Seto grunted from the floor, his eyes nakedly pleading as he ground out a whimper and managed to shake his head in desperate

negation. "Don-" His speech was pitifully garbled, making Seth's cackle that reverberated through his mind all the more taunting.

"Why? Why would have me spared?" Yami's soft question was only answered by Seto's twitch of shoulders, as he glanced at his

brutalized limb. "It...won'...fix this." Seto stared up at him, so raw, so bleeding, his azure eyes sharpening into awareness of

some sort of darkness that not even Seth could detect at the moment. Yami only smirked. "Your mercy is refreshing, but futile,

Seto." And with that, Yami dug a bloodied finger across the scar on Seto's forehead. Seto tried to wrench his head away,with a cry.

Mercifully, Yami's violating touch was abruptly halted by the arch of the dagger against his wrist.

Isis stood over him, looking like an avenging angel, her necklace matching the Puzzle's glow, and her eyes ebony with hideous resolve.

"I will not permit you to hurt him any more, Yami. Perhaps my own existance is severed, and yours is broken. But I will not allow you to

torture him any more. He did nothing to deserve this."

Isis had drew back the blade in a considering, gut-wrenching arch, her torment of guilt and love for her friend warring against the sick parody

he became. Her eyes slid up to his own, the dagger's blade trembling inches from his waiting flesh, as he only arched his chin up to improve

her aim. Sweet release might be his in a few moments, if she could but drive the blade a few more inches. With a sigh of surrender, her lip

curled, her breath wafting over his cheeks, and her eyes shimmering with a tortured plea. Lowering the dagger, she only shook her head.

"I cannot." She whispered, brokenly, as she started to weep. "I cannot! You deserve it, my king. You deserve it for the blood on your hands,

for the torture and the cruelty you have reeked on those you once gave up everything to protect. Oh, my king.." She groaned in anguish,

as she curled her arms against herself in a futile attempt of self-protection. "I can only imagine what suffering finally broke you. What

cruel blow finally shattered your morality like so much fragmented glass and scarred you to the point of becoming...this "

Her eyes swept over his crouched form in horror and loss. "But it was your choice, my king. You freely chose the darkness, drank in

the corruption with glee, and glutted yourself on your own cruelty until you became just as evil as the beast who murdered you. I pitied

you once, and mourned your loss as a friend. It broke my heart to witness your passing and my grief never stopped for all these years.

But now...you became the thing you swore you never would." She gestured hopelessly at Seto's mutilated arm.

"The blood on Seth's hand will never wash away, my king, but not for the treachery of his act alone. It is your thirst for vengence and your

inability to see anything beyond your own rage that will lead to your downfall. I had held onto such frail hope that you had not gone down

the same tortured path as Seth did. But watching you cut Seto, knowing the agony that he would endure, and doing it anyway..."

Isis's eyes lingered over Seto with pity, as she shook her head. "You have become the monster, my king, and there is no redemption for that.

Yami only stared up at her in weary understanding. "I know, Isis_._And if I could find it left in my heart, I would beg for your forgiveness._"_

With those bitter words and a sad glance at the dagger, Yami sighed, leaving so much unspoken, as he shut his eyes for a brief moment

to collect what remained of his sanity. It almost bothered him that he could just rid himself of compassion like it was unwanted trash, but...

Seth watched the exchange with a cocked eyebrow in perverse amusement, as he took over the broken body with a smirk, and hastily shoved Seto's

wounded fragments down into the abyss. He grimaced at the shrill shriek of pain, but it yielded to triumph as the wounds on the body healed under his power

Seto, unmercifully, was still left with the bleeding ache. Seth saw no reason to spare him the pain of the mutilation.

And, he could feel Seto's slow unraveling with satisfaction.

It was the unnerving, surreal smile that haloed Yami's face that made Isis's heart tremble, as he casually tilted his head and hip with elegant non-chalance.

"I know what it is like to suffer. I want to know what it is like to _inflict _it." With that sneer, the Puzzle went from muted to gold to fire as he allowed

the small flame to light over his fingers. Seth's eyes bulged, as he backed away, as Isis gave a shrill cry and curled her fingers around her Necklace. Yami

only heard the whispered hiss of her voice as the blinding heat poured forth from the Necklace and coiled around the Puzzle in an arc of pearled light.

She rose from the darkness, with her ebony hair falling over her shoulders, her arms raised wide, the white sleeves unfurling like wings. She looked angelic for a

brief, serene moment, and both Yami and Seth stared in mute awe as Isis summoned her power to its full, treachorous outpouring. Yami felt the strangling grip

of the Puzzle's resistance, and he grit his teeth at the burning pain that fell across his scarred palms. Behind him, he heard Seth's snarl of rancor, the shrill

cry of disbelief and then the horrendous scream as if his soul were being ripped to shreds. Pivoting in absolute panic, Yami's jaw fell open to see the white fire

raining down on Seth, in ever deepening circles, as Seth stood quaking, but unconsumed, and apparently, uninjured. Yami stared in terror at Isis, the tattered

remnants of the raw cry of agony still lingering around him. With sickening awareness, Yami swallowed back the rock lodged in his throat to know that the scream

he heard was Seto's.

Shadows wafted, the darkness coiled and yielded at Isis's command, and both Seth and Yami were gaping to see the lax, broken form of Seto Kaiba laying still

in a pool of blood at their feet. Yami could only stare, confused, and numb, wondering idly if Seto was still alive or if Isis's seperation spell had only delivered

Seto's corpse. With anguish, Yami flinched at the cackle of Seth as he sarcastically bowed with a flourish and clapped his hands in a slow, mocking cadence.

Proudly, he raised unmutilated arms, shrugged off the tunic's strap to reveal the cut that was no longer there. Seth sneered as he stooped to Kaiba's side and

rolled him over onto his back. Seto's head rolled, his face alabaster and still, the cut across his cheek bone still leaking. It looked as if he were weeping blood.

Seth only snorted in amusement, as he distainfully wiped Seto's blood away, with a shrug, and rose.

Isis looked absolutely stricken, and Yami stared disbelieving at Seto's body, shaking and panting. "How..."

Isis was quaking, her necklace hanging dead and useless at her sweating neck as she clapped a hand over her mouth, and slammed her eyes shut in the attempt

to block the horrific sight. She turned away with a cry, as Seth nudged the limp body again.

"I would like to thank you, Isis, for the restoration of my body, and the seperation of my soul from that weak, pathetic vessel of flesh. Once again, your twisted sense

of mercy robs me of the pleasure of killing. But, it is quite enjoyable to see you so stricken with remorse over yet another death at your hands. Yami, my _king._"

Seth bowed, sarcastically, "Perhaps this finally reveals the true nature of Isis, your beloved friend. She was willing to kill Seto to harm _me,_ and only succeeded in

liberating me. I think, my king, and my lady, it's only fitting that she finally recieve her just sentence and _die."_

Isis snarled out, "I did not kill Seto, you beast! I seperated him from you to free him!"

Seth snorted. "Then may I congradulate you on the most spectacular failure, my lady. May your treachery finally earn _you_ a rich reward in hell!"


	31. Firestorm, Part One

A/N. My apologies for the slow updates. I have started a new job last week and it is taking up quite a bit of my time.

I am also trying to get into grad school, as well as the rest of my responsibilities...hence how short the chapter is.

And, yes, this story is nearing its end, as well. For Seth lovers, Seth will be reappearing at least in a one shot called

"This Fire" as a good guy, when I get the time to write it out. Thanks for your patience, and yes, I will be updating

The End of All Things this weekend.

The Fire Storm

"I will not go to hell alone, _priest."_ Isis spat Seth's former title with a curled lip and her hands already rising, glowing,

and summoning her Necklace's power into a glittering arch of light. Seth raised a coy eyebrow, waved a mocking hand in

sarcastic invitation. "By all means, my lady, please do. Considering what a brilliant failure your last bit of magic was,

it is fitting that you provide me with a bit of amusement before I kill you, and then your beloved king."

With the fire rising from her eyes, Isis only replied, so serene, and so coldly, "I would choose death at your hands to

a life as your slave. And what makes you think that this spell is meant for _you?"_

With a sad bow of resignation, Isis silently raised her arms, and promptly sent an inferno of bright light

over Yami. He did not even have the time to scream, as she chanted, "My king, may my last act in this world

free you from the corruption. Be free, Yami."

Isis heaved with the effort of summoning the most powerful spell she had ever attempted, and nearly swooned when

she felt the last reserves of her strength being poured out into the fire that was steadily growing and leaching from her

curling fingers. Her vision faded, as the peaceful darkness came over her gently. Oblivion cradled her, serenity lingered

to comfort, as she heard Seth's indignant squeal of outrage, and then his roar of rage and terror at the realization

that she had indeed fulfilled her promise. Satisfied, Isis allowed her body to go limp with a serene smile on her

still face.

Somewhere in the sudden explosion of the world burning down around him, Yami found himself seared to the core with

something deep inside shattering. He trembled at the alien sensation, tried to weep, tried to scream, to find

salvation or even a tether in the malestrom.

_If only rage could be so easily disposed of as an unwanted life, wiped away into oblivion, the blood neatly wiped clean,_

_the memories fading, the dead left to their rest, and their crimes finally absolved by the Divine Forgivness of the One,_

_or justly punished. What a perversion of divinity to see Yami's tortured ressurection, the thing he had become. Yami_

_only hunched and almost timidly gathered some of Seto's blood, and held it up to the light, his eyes wide and unseeing_

_in the swoon of the waking nightmare. Seth saw the bone-jarring shiver of revulsion, saw the eyes suddenly glaze over_

_with horrified tears as Yami's eyes swathed over Seto's body. Yami clapped a hand over his mouth, whimpered, staggered_

_away, shaking his head in numb, tormented understanding as the magnitude of his own depravity suddenly broke_

_forth and drowned out all else, the world, his own thoughts, even the world around him. He felt his stomache lurch, and _

_he shuddered at the bile coiling rancidly in his gut with all its bitter promise of errupting. Yami buried his sweating_

_forehead in quaking palms, the remorse gnawing on every fragmented thought like a beast, his eyes slamming shut_

_from the tide of tears, and the futile attempt to deny the hellish scene he had created._

_He felt sick and lost, and alone. He felt so unclean, unfit, and disjointed from even reality itself. As if in mocking reminder,_

_the Puzzle throbbed against his neck, the weight dragging his body down, and suddenly feeling unbearable as Yami_

_twisted his prison and living hell in his hands and only sighed. It was never supposed to be like this. He was never _

_supposed to be like this...and now...Isis had shattered him with all the cruel guilt and bitter realization of just how damned_

_he was. If it was his friend's intention to punish him for his crimes...Yami swallowed back the sudden boulder lodged in his throat._

_There was no better sentence than forcing him to face himself. There was no harsher punishment than seeing himself_

_in all his depravity. Even if he could somehow retreat into the luxury of madness as Seth had successfully done, he only_

_had to look down at his feet and see Seto's violated flesh, the scarlet screaming for absolution. Or, Isis's still, peaceful_

_form, draped in surrender where she had fallen. There was no absolution for this. There was no remedy for this._

_He could be slain a thousand times, and it would never be enough to stop this evil from continuing. He could not die,_

_though he was not alive, and now that he was facing the eternal possibility of it...he bit back the cry when the Puzzle suddenly_

_flared gold, circumvently, almost as if hiding its still considerable power from Seth._

_Seth. The Puzzle surged against his fingers in time to his hatred, hungry, anticipating. Startled, Yami felt the Puzzle's song_

_rising to match the rancor of his own thoughts, its dark promises of revenge and bright salvation only a few moments away,_

_if he would but surrender to its power. _

_Seth seemed to be doing nothing more than relishing his unexpected triumph of having Isis removed, as well as Seto._

_He was gloating as he stood over their bodies, and Yami watched, appalled and numb as Seth knelt down to Isis's body,_

_in mocking tribute. Seth offered Yami a coy smirk as he groped the pool of dark hair, and caressed her cold cheek._

_"A pity, my king. Such a pity." Yami hissed in violated rancor as Seth's fingers glided into the depths of her dark hair,_

_and tilted her chin upward. With a sadistic smile, he ran fingers down her throat, and shrugged, "A pity I did not _

_use the blade."_

_"Do not touch her." Yami's voice was ominous and quiet as thunder as his eyes bulged at Seth's audacity, the_

_anguish and the rage coiling into his veins, mixing fire and ice._

_Seth only shrugged, casually, calculating the next words for the most venom, "And what concern is that now? I dare say the_

_lady is rather silent about her preferences as to who touches her now. A shame she's already gone cold."_

_Yami only raised violet eyes shimmering with tears, as he gazed at his fallen friends. Softly, he curled fist into fist,_

_and whispered, "You are a fool, Seth."_

_Seth scowled at the harsh, raw whisper, sensing something to be quite amiss, but unable to identify it. Wisely, he_

_turned to Yami, his face hardening with disturbed unease._

_"And you are weak. Why else do you weep over her passing?"_

_Yami only shook his head, with a sad, bitter smile that curled into deadly promise. "Tears are useless,Seth, and monsters_

_don't bother themselves in shedding them. And if I am the monster my lady Isis claimed that I am...there's nothing else_

_left for me to do...than become what I was damned to be all along."_

_There was no answer, or warning, or even time for another thought, as Yami only snarled in rage, and uttered the dark_

_chant. Seth's delusional smirk wavered when he felt the steadily growing throb of raw power flooding through the room_

_like an undamned river._

_The Puzzle started to burn white and raw against Yami's steady palms, as he unleashed every dark door and every_

_shadow, allowed every monster and memory to drink of his held back poison, allowed every tear to flare forth into_

_vengence, every ounce of pain to wound to its full, flowering brutality. _

_Yami stood over Seth, with the demonic smile, so smug, and so broken across his quaking lips._


	32. Damned

A/N This is barbaric, gross, and not intended for readers with tender stomaches, no appetite for gore, or who don't like violence related angst. You are warned.

Yami, in one of his last human moments, recoiled in horror at the darkness that was steadily pouring itself out into his soul, as the Puzzle throbbed brighter and brighter with the gathering inferno. How perverse a vessel his frail flesh was, how absolutely tainted forever,and what scars might run deeper than the ones that now laced fire across his quaking throat.

And each scar willingly ripped off what frail barrier of morality or bright hope once held it in place. Pain, deeper than the depths of the abyss willingly yielded its own vomit of hatred as the snarling beasts broke their chains and gathered like clouds in the gathering storm of Yami's heart. And now, that heart was breaking, but melding back together under the heat of the torture to something so harsh and ummerciful, it would never be broken again. Bittersweet indifference and a passing ache and a tear for Isis was her only eulogy as Yami reverently caressed her cold cheek with a promise.  
"I will end this, my lady. For you."

It was softly spoken, laced with regret and misery and guilt. Heart-sick, Yami's eyes lingered over Seto's coiled body. His breath hitched and the sob rose and died on his tongue as he shivered at the sight of Seto's blood from his own depravity. Seto's eyes were mercifully closed, but the scar across his cheek wept scarlet and his body was still curled up in its final spasms of agony. "Forgive me. You were inocent." Yami whispered harshly as his fists clenched into the palms.

He heard Seth's eerie cackle in the dark, breaking over everything else like a tidal wave, as Yami only inhaled a long, tormented breath. And with that last, lingering glance at the bodies behind him, Yami only chuckled, tilting his head with a smug little smile, baring his teeth in a mocking parody of Seth's own smirk.

And, with an almost satisfied sigh, he raised his arms high into a perverse welcome, flung his hands open in welcome invitation. Seth's smile melted to terror when he saw Yami's slowly trembling fingers lace over the chain around his neck. The reverberating slide of the links through his fingers as he bowed his head and lifted the Puzzle away from his flesh was the only sound as the Puzzle glowed even brighter and the darkness grew.

"Is looking into Seto's dead face more of a reminder of who you once were, or is more like looking into a mirror of your future, Seth?"

Seth's eyes swathed over Seto's bent body, as he hastily glared at Yami, uneasily. His voice was one of eerie resignation and surrender, and the smile was not from mad triumph or mirth. Seth did not deem it necessary to answer the question, but his alarm grew as Yami continued his lonely spew, the only sound his rich, meloncholy cadence and the ever growing roar of the firestorm at his hands.

"He was innocent, unworthy of so much cruelty, and so much suffering. She was my one true friend, her spirit so bright and noble...but she cast it away in the hopes of gaining my redemption, Seth. And all I have to honor their memories is destroying my own. And all I have for certain vengence...is destroying yours, Seth.  
Understand this, please. I once thought your death would be enough to wash away this evil, that if I could rid myself of all the cruelty...it would be enough. And,sadly, I realize, far too late to undo anything now.  
that it will never be enough. But, this will have to be."

With a sad, accepting smile, and broken serenity so tainted by his own dark, Yami only hissed, "We shall both be damned."

And with that, Yami's fingers glided over the corner piece of the Puzzle, lingered deliberately and then, pulled the gold piece away. Yami grimaced in pain at the sharp cut across his wrist, but bit it away at Seth's own grunt behind him. Seth gaped in horror at the slash mark across his wrist, as his bulging eyes slid to the Puzzle and then to Yami's twisted grin.

"Stop this!! Dismantling the Puzzle will not result in my death alone!" Yami only tilted his head to the side, and shook it, consideringly. "Ahh, yes. It will result in the rather unregrettable result of my demise, Seth.  
But, there is one bright thing in all of this darkness." Yami's voice dropped to a mutilated growl, as he lowered himself to a crouch.

"You will suffer more."

The first piece slid out effortlessly, the bright burn arching across Yami's back like a whip-welt. His grin coiled into a snarl of pain, as he slid fingers over the pieces of the Puzzle, and ripped away another piece,  
raised it high, and carved it deep into his wrist. It burned cold, as gore burbled to the surface. Seth shrieked in agony as a slash twice as wide was ripped across both wrists.

Another piece, another shriek. Yami gazed indifferently at the dark bruise that had encircled Seth's high cheek bone, and the scar that was identical to Seto's arching jagged across his face. He winced when he felt his own cheek splitting open.

"Do you not see, Seth, that your corruption has bound me to suffering your fate? Here we are, wound to wound, cut to cut, hurt to hurt, and yet..." His fingers ghosted over the filigree that had the eye of Horus in its swirled glory. "No blood will result in absolution, Seth. There is no forgiveness for those who have chosen the darkness time and time again. You could have turned away. You could have attempted to make this right. As could I."

Seth rose to his knees, trembling, his tunic dark red with the blood from his scars, his eyes full of pleading tears. "My king...please. Don't deny me mercy now. I beg of you...don't go down this path again! Yami, my king, and my friend...you could still make this right."

Yami shivered at his informal name sliding from Seth's lips, the echo of his once closest friend being ressurected and reappearing in this disgusting ghoul that had been reduced to crawling in a trail of his own slime and groping at his knees for absolution. Memories, unwanted and independent of his own shattered will emerged. Bright Egyptian sunlight, and the warmth of his father's arms, while he and Seth sat side by side, as children, listening in rapt wonder of the tales of old. The formal oath that Seth had pledged to lay down his life for Yami's if need ever called for it, and the solemn promise from Yami that he would live a life worthy of dying for. A few thousand years had not corrupted his word, but his own selfish urge for power, for more...Yami did not know what had driven Seth from friend to demon, from light to darkness. And to hear the pleading, in vague hope that he still had mercy enough...Yami shuddered as if struck.

"I am making this right,Seth. I am making sure that your evil dies, even if it takes my death to do so. I do this with no regret, save that it cost two inocent people their lives."

His fingers lingered over the Puzzle's top point, the piece marred by so much bleeding. He grimaced when he felt the dried blood still rusty against the gold, and then, with a grunt, broke it. Seth slithered downward into a frenzied ball, recoiling with a whine at the blood errupting from the cut to his stomache. Witheringly, he brought a red hand from the tunic, and whimpered to see it completely scarlet.

Yami was not without injury. He had curled an arm against his side, and doubled over, trembling, as the rib was rebroken and throbbing. His breath hitched, caught against the bone, and he felt sickened by the sudden ache of no air. With a strangled moan, Yami forced himself to exhale against the blinding pain.  
Bracing himself against the wall, he stayed upright, though his vision blurred.

Seth slithered upward, with a smirk. "Permit me a breath and a moment while you are currently fighting to get yours back, Yami. Perhaps a bit of enlightenment would help you..in our dying moments, for the second time to understand the reasons behind all of this darkness now. It seems fitting,now." And Seth removed the hand from his side, and Yami saw the bone deep cut to his chest, the tatters of flesh, as Seth's breath only wafted in the dark.

"While I have breath, and while I have this pathetic flesh, I will answer the one question that's plagued you for so long, my king. The question of why."

Yami said nothing, but he stared at Seth, ummoved, and pitiless. "What could you possibly say or do that would make any of this right, Seth? You have far surpassed any limits to mercy, or even my reach! Don't you understand that now, Seth?! "

Yami sighed, miserably, his anguish exposed and his defenses faltering dangerously, as Seth continued to weave his treachery into yet another noose.

"I was held down like an animal, and beaten until my bones were broken. You carved my throat open, and laughed at me as I bled to death. Do you really think that I am all that concerned at your reasons now?  
I wish..." Yami's statement died at his lips as his lips curled in dismissal.

Seth stared at him, his eyes narrowed and cruel at Yami's torment, before he twisted the look away in a sudden, contorted plea, "Do you mean that you would spare me, even now...my king?" Seth worked in a shrill cry that sounded exactly like his own familiar cadence in Egypt. Yami's heart ached, and quelled, as he palmed the Puzzle in agony. Seth hid the smile, at seeing Yami's welcome uncertainty gnawing at him once again. His mercy for others was always the one flaw that could be manipulated so bueatifully.  
Yami buried his head in his hands, and his shoulders twitched at his silent sobbing. Helpless, and hopeless,  
broken beyond repair, and dark beyond the forgiving...Yami only wept in answer for long, tortured moments, before he raised his flame-veined eyes to Seth's.

"I cannot! You vindictive monster...how dare you try to twist my mercy into a chance to save yourself. How dare you assume that after all I've suffered that I would simply absolve you because you're defenseless, save for the lies and the poison..." Yami's face went from contorted tears to hardened resolve and a fierce mask of rage, as he snatched away the leather collar that concealed his scars, and threw it down at Seth's feet.  
Seth shrank away with a cry as Yami scornfully lifted the piece of the Puzzle, dagger sharp to his own neck, and then proceeded to reopen the wound, slowly.

He was rewarded by the convulsion of Seth's body as he squealed against the pain and writhed helplessly against the splintering wound across his throat.

a 


	33. Requiem for the LostGory!

Fire had always haunted his dreams. Daggers, scarlet with blood not his own, but had become his own with the aftermath of the tormented web of dark delusions and suffering that he had once tried so hard to keep others from. He vaguely recalled that murky time, a few thousand years ago, when he was noble and right, and his heart was free. Indeed, he was trusted, and loved, and both Yami and Isis had considered him to be close as family, and they treated him...as a friend. And now, the nightmares had become real, and the monsters were coming for him...

The scars errupted, and he felt the flesh of his neck yielding, bleeding. Stupidly, Seth put an instinctive palm to his throat, blanched at the sickening heat...

A friend, Seth shivered at the words, as his gaze fell down to his bronzed hands, scarred and calloused from the shackles that had encircled his wrists for so long. He stared down at the blood on his hands, blood, some of it his own, but most of it Seto's. Seth had been horrified to watch the Pharoah actually carve out Seto's flesh for no reason, other than he had so much hatred for Seth that it was justified.

Justified...the dagger contined its slow trail downward, and deeper, as Yami twisted the Puzzle piece into his own flesh, hissed in pain, and rammed the point into his neck. It was puncuuated by a harsh groan.  
Seth felt the trickle of blood growing to a small, weeping torrent, as it flowed down his heaving side, while he only gaped at it.

Sluggish thoughts filled Seth's increasingly dissoriented thoughts. He could feel his reason fading away in time to his last moments, marveled at how remarkably intact they were for a dying man...

He had felt vaguely thrilled and disappointed to see Yami falter and fall into the dark just as he had. It was so pitiful to see Yami's great plumment, the bright, noble sacrifice and savior of Egypt stripped of existance and dumped into a golden piece of hell.. But, still...treachery for treachery, Seth could not feel a bit of smug satisfaction that it was his own blow that had set this dark path into motion so long ago.

The bright blade had severed all need for mercy when he had plunged it hilt deep into the throat of his friend. Seth swallowed bitterly, his eyes sliding up to the gathering storm that the Pharoah was conjuring, his icy eyes narrowed, his mouth twisted, his heart quelling in his chest. He had tried once for absolution, and found none.

Be gone and be damned!

Isis had pronounced both his judgement and future in one hissed breath in the breaking moments after Seth had mutilated Yami. Staring up into those azure eyes ablaze with hatred, Seth knew that Isis could have him bleed for eons and never consider it enough. He had lost the chance to make it right, even if he had the intention at one point.

Be gone and be damned...

The bitter words had pronounced his death sentence, as the world and the past yielded around him and he found himself fractured in the dark places that were only spoken of in the presence of curses or enemies. The downfall of the high Priest had become the thing of legend, a whispered fairytale used to threaten children of the dangers of the world outside the dunes. His name evoked shivers, his lingering memory, hatred in the tall shadows cast by the nobility of Yami's sacrifice and Isis's glorious reign as Pharoah in his place. Seth had lived on, of course..as a shadow, a memory, a fragment, in the flesh,  
a man loathed and reviled. He had not even the luxury of the flesh when Isis cursed his spirit to the chains and the dark of the Shadow Realm, nor even the mercy of death. No, he had suffered and groaned under the burden of eternity, as much as Yami.

But, Seth stared at Yami with bitterly twisted lips. Yami had been innocent. Seth had been everything but, and that was the sad, sad difference.

"It was never supposed to be this way, my king! I swear to you! Forgive me, absolve me, restore me..." The words died, faltering and useless on his lips, and for a fractured moment, he did not know if he would be begging God for mercy, or his former king. And, in one, tortured moment, Seth knew that it was useless anyway. He felt the last shred of anything redeemable shriek in grief and empathy for the scars and tears of so many inocents. The squandered life of wasted chances and disregard as he allowed his heart to consume itself with his own delusional poison.

The inferno rolled bright and impatient between Yami's fingers, and Seth's mouth fell open, gaping as the hungry flames roared. It looked as if the gates of Hell were wide open and waiting. Yami's mortal frame had started its jerking, involuntary convulsions, bone deep spasms brought on by both the blood loss and the futile fight of his muscles to get oxygen from the lack of circulation. Yami slowly yielded to the weakness and slid to his knees, gritting his teeth and panting from the strain. The Puzzle's pieces lay at Yami's knees in a bloodied heap as Yami's fingers glided over the ancient eye, the swirls of gold and red so cold against his touch. It was the last intact piece, and Yami cradled it in his shaking hand, eyes closing against the ache of loss.

His prison, his home, his shelter, his tether and noose. His existance, and his hell, reduced to this. The tears slowly burned chill down his cheeks, but Yami did not notice them, as he closed his fingers around it. It throbbed as if alive, and Yami nearly flung it away, sickened.

His torpor was interupted by the sudden, and violating touch of Seth's pleading, shaking hand against his calf. Yami stiffened, and twisted away from the unwanted contact. Seth slithered down to his elbows and knees, sliding on his own gore, and fumbling into a heap. Yami grit his teeth, raised a boot heel in a wide arch, and then, with glee, drove it down into Seth's side, not even flinching at the loud pop of the ribs shattering or the high cry of anguish as Seth curled. He felt the bones splinter, and only eyed the aftermath with scorn, whispering, "At long last, you understand why I wept."

Seth only gurgled in answer, his throat filled with blood, his eyes filled with tears. With his last breath, he pleaded, "m...mercy!" Yami watched the suffering indifferently, only folded his arms against his own aching chest, watched Seth's deaththroes. The man was twitching now like a dying cockroach at Yami's feet.

The last piece cut into his flesh, time froze, the fire still lapped, waiting at his command to burn and kill, as Yami only raised eyes to heaven, with a last prayer for an absolution he could not grant. Yami grit his teeth for his last act, ordering the fire in his veins to quell, felt the dismay of the dark that was still demanding a sacrifice.

Panting over the ache, the heat, the weariness, Yami stared down at Seth beneith his feet, his last moments being played out in all their brutality, and he lifted eyes to see the still, silent bodies of Isis and Seto. Shaking, he raised the jagged piece in a high, deadly arch, and then, with a serene smile to Seth, whispered, "Be gone and be damned."

And Yami plunged the piece deep into Seth's throat. 


	34. Yielding of the Flesh

A/N- This is one of the last chapters of the Abyss In Its Splendor, and I hope that I have written it well

enough to satisfy all. If it doesn't...I tried. God bless you all for putting up with both the Crown and the

Abyss for so long.

_In his last moments of life, Seth was left with the languishing thought that the piece had turned into a dragon, _

_and was searing away his flesh as retribution for all the wrongs that would never be absolved, by his own_

_blood, or not. Blood, so much blood, a torrent, a river, a vein pouring out his very essence in silent weeping_

_over his flesh, scarlet and heated, briefly, before it cooled as death worked its inevitable task._

_His chest convulsed, the hiss from the wound sharp in the waiting quiet, as the reflex to breathe yielded nothing_

_but a growing ache competing with the tidal wave of numb torpor that was gently forcing his limbs to go_

_limp, and his spastic, tortured nerves to cease their useless movement._

_He felt his heartbeat, dulled and heavy as muted thunder, roaring over everything else, and noted, with indifference_

_the quivering thud, as it clenched like a fist, wavered and stopped._

_Breath, breath, his precious breath, strangled in his throat and screaming like a caged beast clawed at his mind,_

_pleading for release, as he tried and failed to draw another one. The damage to his throat made it impossible to _

_breathe. Languishing and drowning in his own gore, Seth raised his eyes to Yami._

_They were friends once. Promises of faith and loyalty made so long ago over the bond of brotherhood and a cup of_

_wine, sweet and lingering on his lips. The ache of home, and all that he had lost rose like ghosts from the abyss,_

_the memories unwanted and haunting. His friend, the Pharoah, so noble and so small, laying himself out,_

_defenseless and brave against that cold slab, his throat bared for the dagger, his eyes shut, the prayer on his _

_lips. Darkness...madness...He remembered gripping the cold handle, saw the blade dancing silver in the torchlight_

_marveled at how slender, and bueatiful it was, and how much power dangled on its blade._

_Isis's attempt at mercy, a chant as gentle as a lullaby, sang from the depths, and burning bright as Yami's_

_body relaxed and he surrendered. It was supposed to be merely a passage, and a journey's end, where Yami's_

_bright spirit would be eased to the afterlife with all the grace and kindness possible. Death was to be no more_

_than sleep, the morning a new chapter._

_And then Seth had plunged the dagger deep into the throat of his own king, and damned himself._

_Pain, from the flesh being cut, the horror at the eternity awaiting him, the dying itself with none to lend comfort_

_except his own killer. Pain that did not cease when the nerves were severed. Blissful numbness that was not,_

_the inverted vortex of his own perverted living suddenly leaching out every torrent of suffering and bringing down to one_

_sick, final cresendo of agony._

_Breath and blood. Crystal and scarlet against his own tattered tunic, jewels that were shattered as they were thrown._

_The echo of his own words roared at him with teeth now, the splintered regret of eternity bearing down on his_

_spirit with all its finality. Seth was at least shattering apart._

_Be gone, and be damned._

_The words in all their condemption and prophesy lingered in the last moments of his awareness, coiling_

_about his heart in all their serpentine promise. And Seth's tear slowly trickled down one cheek at the_

_damning realization that those hated words had finally come true at last. Dimly, he heard Yami's breath, so_

_heated against his froze, quivering form, whispering, _

_Be gone, and be damned._

_The last sight that Seth saw was Yami's weary, dark smile, in all its sad serenity. The task was finished, his_

_existance finally obliterated, his life...over._

Yami recoiled instinctively, as the Puzzle's piece severed Seth's throat in one clean slice. The flesh yielded,

the gold was soon dripping with scarlet, and it continued to plunge deeper into the jagged skin, as Yami

snarled and drove it downward with fury. The Puzzle answered his wish, merrily clawing away the flesh with

abandon. There was no scream, no whimper, and Yami realized that the horrible, waiting silence was only because he had

cut Seth's voice out of existance.

_Existance. _Yami straddled the dying priest, relishing the dark sensation of the spasmodic jerk beneath him, as

Seth quietly gurgled and choked. Seth's hands rose of their own accord, one finger seeking the answer as to why

he was suffering. Groping and trembling, his hand fell across the hot, red, wet across his throat. Eyes widening in

disbelief, Seth eyed the blood for a long, tortured moment, and then his eyes slid to Yami's. Yami shivered in

absolute anguish as Seth's curled lips drew into a mysterious smirk, as the fingers splayed open as if in welcome,

flaunting Yami's bloodbath. The hand dropped, the head lulled, the body lurched, and then was still. Yami grunted and

slashed downward again, and only halted his horrific onslaught after feeling the flesh yield and Seth's head flop on the limp and

sullied neck.

Warily, disbelieving and numb, Yami rocked back on his haunches, stood over his vanquished enemy. It was over, hidiously

confirmed by Seth's azure eyes staring blankly at the ceiling, his mouth still twisted in that smirk. It was confirmed by

the broken, tortured form of Seto, whose tears still lay on his cheeks, and his corpse still splayed in the deaththroes.

And it was undeniable from seeing the serene, alabaster face of Isis, serenenity gracing her still form like a halo as she

lay in a cascade of ebony hair and white gown where she had surrendered.

Three corpses, a friend, an enemy, and a sacrifice. The Puzzle's pieces lay where they had been flung in the firestorm,

one still embedded into Seth, the rest at Yami's feet, as he only stared, mutely, unmoving, and silent. His own wounds

were throbbing with the fading of his rage and adrineline, and he could tell that he was slowly bleeding to death himself.

_Death. It was once the thing he feared the most, the one finality that swallowed up all of life, and love and time itself into one_

_bottomless abyss, and severed all the warmth of living with cruel indifference. Yami felt it now, lingering so patiently in the shadows,_

_standing by as a gentle friend to end all of this hell at long, long last._

_Trembling, he rose on his quaking knees, to drag his bleeding, broken shell to Isis and Seto. Almost timidly, he lay a seeking hand_

_into the mass of dark hair, biting back the wail that would never come when he felt the familiar tresses fall limp from his hands._

_He lay a hand across her forehead, whispered her name, beseechingly. He snatched his hand away as if burned. She had already_

_gone cold. _

_Grief, and disbelief and so many other dark things that he had kept down and buried were suddenly undammed with the force of _

_the unleashed Nile, swirling over him, and dragging him down into the darkness, as he sank to his knees with a sobbing wail. _

_No tears came after the cry, nothing but emptiness and a loss far too great for human tongue to tell, as he raised his arms full of_

_scars to the skies in entreating for the world itself to be kind enough to collapse on him to fit what he felt at that horrific moment._

_He stared at the still corpses with indifferent envy, so longing for their peace. _

_It was into that horrific silence and bloody aftermath that Solomon and Yugi hesitantly stepped over the splintered remains_

_of the Game Shop door. Both of the Motos had stood in tortured waiting on the lawn, Solomon having to hold Yugi back bodily to keep _

_his small grandson from flying headlong into the battle that was clearly raging. They heard the shouts, the screams, and most mysteriously,_

_the hellish red glare of the inferno that Yami had summoned. Solomon had almost squealed, convinced that his shop would be torched and _

_the people inside burned to death. Oddly enough, there was no ash, or even the smell of smoke. That had frankly, scared the hell out of both_

_the Motos, as the door had not only exploded into flames but had been propelled at least 10 feet away from the house._

_Solomon scowled, and narrowed his eyes, wisely stooping to heft a large plank of wood over his shoulder, and jerking his head for Yugi_

_to follow. Yugi numbly nodded, and stepped aside, his boots crunching on the fractured glass, his heart thundering in his chest._


	35. Pain

Solomon Moto grunted and frowned at the fragments of the door, raising the board high as if the splintered pieces would be a

threat. The eerie, heavy silence was more alarming for the dark forboding that slithered like ice down his quaking gut as the old

man herded the wide-eyed Yugi behind him with a paternal shove and a scowl. Warily, he picked a path through the debris,

glancing over his shoulder now and then to see Yugi trailing and gaping at the mess, and then yelping with a lurch backwards.

Solomon whirled at the sound of distress and was even more alarmed to see Yugi's hand clap over his mouth to choke down the wail as he

went pale and shaking. Solomon only heard Yugi's heart-wrenching sob of "Yami!" before he bolted past his grandfather and darted

into the bloody aftermath of the living room. Solomon tensed, shut his eyes for a brief prayer, and then forced himself forward after Yugi.

. The living room was a scene that only the darkest pit of hell could spew forth.

Solomon only stared onward, slowly glancing at everything, numbly, unable to force his thoughts into any co-herent

understanding of the reality.Yugi was already quivering and stumbling towards where Yami had slithered downward and only remained upright

by the wall that he was wilted against. Yugi cringed at the scarlet lines that trailed to the point where Yami had finally lost his strength and collapsed.

Yugi had whispered his name, and then halted short of touching him, dismayed. Solomon grunted as he lumbered over to Yami's side, lowered himself,

and grimaced as he slid his fingers to Yami's pulse point on the gore-soaked throat to see if Yami still lived. Startled, he scuttled backwards to feel the

hot breath gracing his palm as Yami's serene features were marred with the whimper and lurch away from the hands on his throat.

Yugi's joyful shriek of his name, and the snatching of Yami's bloodied hand roused the spirit out of the stupor with profound consequences.

Yami twisted blindly, seizing the hand at his neck with a grip that could shatter bones and flung the hand away with a snarled cry. Solomon

hastily gathered Yugi up and away from the explosive return to life and the wailing cry of anguish as Yami only curled into fetal position with

a pleading sob. Yugi heard the garbled speech through the hitching breath as Yami's palms lurched up to lace deep into his hair as he wept.

"please...don'" as he attempted to shut out the world by burrowing his face deeper into his knees after he slid down on his side.

His eyes were slammed shut in the futile effort to forstall the horror of the demons that would take him down again. Solomon watched as

Yugi tilted his head to the side, panicking, before falling to his knees and gathering Yami in his arms. Yami squealed, tried to break the hold

by a frantic writhing so frenzied that Solomon knelt to restrain him as well. Yami wailed in terror, weeping and pleading, his eyes white, wide

and blind from the panic.

So trapped and broken, as he frantically clawed at the Motos like a frenzied animal.

Solomon attempted to sooth him by gently rubbing his back as he propped Yami against his chest, easily stopping the flying limbs from doing damage.

Yami's tortured instincts coiled tighter and tighter against the restraint, but he was too weak and spent to put up a struggle. Yami just surrendered

with a sob, his body rigidly tense and shaking. Solomon blanched at the weird sensation of hot liquid against his palm, and brought a scarlet hand away

from Yami's back. Solomon swallowed hard in horrified realization when he saw how suddenly red his shirt had become from holding Yami. It was soaked,

and none of it was Solomon's. Yugi frantically cupped his cheek, tilted Yami's twisted features upward, and blurted out, "Yami!! Yami, it's me, Yugi!

Please, please open your eyes, Yami! It's over with, Yami. It's over with."

Yami just shuddered at the words, miserably. It hurt too much to believe.

Yami only panted against Solomon, sagging as the exhaustion was ebbing away like his moments on earth. Eyes blinking, and then widening,

Yami's eyes brimmed with tears as he stared up in shock at Yugi's trembling smile. Yami raised a groping hand to Yugi's cheek, pawing

in awe at the solid flesh, seeking reassurance that it wasn't another nightmare, that Yugi was _real._ Yami winced at the feel of another body

behind his own and craned his neck to see Solomon's sad, weary smile as he gently squeezed Yami's shoulder in reassurance. Apparently, the soothing

words penetrated the tortured fragments of his reason, because Yami shivered, and drew a deep breath, quietly.

_Over with...the words echoed through the haze of confusion and searing pain, as his limbs and body were carefully jostled to rouse him. Yugi and Solomon_

_had never meant to trigger such a reaction, of course. But, even the act of being touched, and then held down...Yami was too shattered to comprehend_

_the sensation of flesh on his flesh was not going to harm him. All he knew was that he was being held down and hurt, and trapped again...it was the same_

_instinctive revulsion of being dragged out of the stupor and hurled back down into the darkness. How many times had he been forced to wake up and _

_live by the wish of a sadistic puzzle, or the whim of a spirit over so long? Over with... Yami would have allowed a bitter chuckle had he the presence of mind._

_The ending sure as hell never meant that anything was over with. What did his own life prove of that point?!_

_Pain. It splintered like a breaking wave over everything else. He knew that his flesh was cut and broken,_

_and he was already feeling woozy and sick from the blood loss._

_He felt the slick red gore against his palms growing cold, the various cuts and wounds crying out against movement as he was gently shook into waking._

_It felt like he was caught in an earthquake, from the violent tilting of the world around him to the arms encaging his vulnerable ribs and squeezing down..._

_He wept like he had lost everything, and upon opening his eyes...he realized he had. The waking was more hellish than the nightmare. There was nothing there_

_but his own terror and pain to accompany him, and he was warring within himself to stay tethered to the bright haze that was steadily drawing him away, or_

_the familiar voices that kept pawing at him and demanding that he open his eyes. All he knew was that they were hurting him and pleading with him, and _

_he couldn't stand much more of either one. His thoughts were shattered, his body broken, and his awareness was growing more and more unbearable as he_

_slowly, sluggishly crawled out of the numb agony and into the duller, deeper reality around him. Gritting his teeth, in tears, Yami gripped the hand that was_

_sliding into his own like a drowning man, and clung to it fiercely. Whimpering, he allowed himself to go limp against the solid, warm flesh of the person at his_

_back. He couldn't fight any more, and it just hurt too much to do anything else but surrender.._

Yami only swallowed hard, stared at Yugi, bleerily, and felt the warm, steadying body of Solomon gently propping him up. "Yugi?" He whispered, sluggishly.

Yugi smiled kindly, squatted down so Yami could see him better, and cupped one of Yami's hands in his own. Yami shivered in realization, and pain as he

watched Yugi's smile falter and then die as his eyes glided over Yami's broken form, shocked into numb awe. "Grampa, Yami's hurt! We need to get him some

help before he bleeds to death!" Yugi cradled Yami against him, as Solomon only shook his head with sad finality.

"Yugi...I don't think that this is a situation that medical intervention would be anything more than intrusive and cruel at this point. He's been through too much,

my boy."

Yami groaned, and forced his breath into speech, clutching at Yugi's hand.

_Yami felt Yugi's hand halt its caress and stiffen as Yugi only inhaled a breath, and peered up at Solomon, stricken. "But..Yami, you're dying! If we don't get you some help, you'll die! You can't just...give up like this!" Yugi nearly shrieked as his grip tightened against Yami's wounds from the heated volitality roaring through him. Yami ground out a yelping whimper against the sudden jostling, shut his eyes and panted against the throbbing of his rib as he tried to keep the shriek of pain_

_behind his bitten lips. "You can't save me from this, Yugi."_

_"But-" Yugi's words faltered miserably as Yami only gripped his hands, and tightened, saying nothing with words, but everything words could not by the tortured way he slumped over and curled his neck into a bow, offering it freely for the executioner's ax as he only sighed, despairing and resigned._

_"It hurts, Yugi! Everything, my past, my present, my future, and all the things I have suffered...it all hurts so much, and I can't-" Yami started to weep, "Please, please...let me go! Just let me go and make this nightmare stop!! Please...just let me go!!"_

_. The idea of enduring more of this world's healing interventions almost sent him into wailing hysterics, as his hand nearly sought the Puzzle's_

_pieces to finish severing what little anchors to this existance he had. The endurance of such agony could not happen again! Why couldn't they just let him_

_go?!_

Yugi stared down into Yami's churning eyes full of nothing but torture, and weary sorrow, and saw the single tear slide down Yami's contorted cheek as he closed

his eyes. "_I can't live through this again, Yugi! Please, don't force me to live through this again...it hurts. It hurts so much!"_

Yugi could only nod his head through his own tears, too stricken to speak at the depth of Yami's anguish. Running soothing hands over Yami's own clenched fists,

Yugi whispered, brokenly, "You've been through enough, Yami, and I won't force you to endure any more. I just hope that you find your peace after all of this."

A/N: I am sorry for the angst, I hope it wasn't too sappy, and yes, the next chapter will deal with Isis and Seto.


	36. Deliver Unto Me

"I can't! Not now...not yet, _Yugi, please!" _ Yami's rich cadence was little more than a choked squeal as he attempted to claw

at the floor, his groping hands seeking something that Yugi could not understand. Yami only trembled, helplessly clutching at

Yugi's arms, before he shook his head in renewed tears as the truth shattered the last shred of salvation he had clung to.

_Be gone and be damned. The echo of his last words to Seth were ressurrected in all their harrowing clarity as Yami forced his _

_eyes open to gaze in numb torpor at the corpses. His last hold on reality was rapidly splintering under the crashing waves of pain,_

_disbelief and exhaustion, as he inhaled a quivering breath and bit his lips til he tasted blood._

_Isis. Seto. Their names grew teeth, grew into beasts, beasts that consumed him by guilt and remorse much the same way Seth_

_had died, dragging Yami down to the dark where Seth's condemned soul lay consumed forever. There was no sadness left in Yami_

_now, only a hollow echo that reverberated across the dull ache that replaced so much tension and anguish. Yami felt as dead_

_and empty inside as a tomb, a vortex of the abyss where there were only ghosts and shadows where his life and heart used to be._

"Yami?! Yami, what is it?! Please, tell us!" Yugi's voice had reached a feverish pitch as Solomon warily tightened his grip on Yami's

body, trying and failing yet again to understand what Yami was pleading for. Tormented, Yugi frantically glanced at his grandfather, who

could only shake his head_._

"_Please! Let me go!!" Yami could only writhe in Solomon's grasp as he raised his shaking fingers to try and pry the old man's_

_hands away from him. Eyes widening in realization of what Yami wanted, Solomon only grunted, and shivered in relief. With_

_infinite care, Solomon literally let Yami go. Yami visibly eased as he felt the sensation of flesh on flesh finally dissapating._

_It literally made him sick to feel hands of skin and blood and bone against his perverse, undead body, and it had hurt_

_far more than Solomon would ever know to plead for his release. Yami felt unclean, tainted by the mortal skin laid_

_against his own. Bowing his head, his eyes slid up to Solomon's in quiet gratitude. "Thank you." It was little more than _

_a breath, softer than a whisper. Solomon only nodded in tears._

_"I'm sorry, my boy... I thought you meant..." At Yugi's head suddenly jerking, and his violet eyes growing even deeper and wider with_

_pain, Solomon bit the words back. _

_Yami's shaking hand suddenly gripped Solomon's wrist, tightening briefly as Yami opened his eyes, struggling to make himself understood, as_

_"Not yet...I can't...Not like this! I c--can't leave them" and Yami flung a hysterical fist at the corpses, "like this! It...I..."_

_And Yami suddenly force himself onto his hands and knees, and slid to the floor between them into a twitching, trembling spasm of pain._

_Yami's hands were slick with his blood as they blindly sought the fragmented Puzzle pieces, trying and failing to find the strength_

_enough to find what was lost. Yami heard Yugi's shocked gasp, and heard his name whispered.Yugi's hands lingered on his shoulders, and Yami _

_tried to shrug them off, as he somehow slid over to his stomache, and grunted at the sharp spike of broken rib meeting the_

_unyielding floor. Yugi watched numbly as Yami only slumped for a long moment, almost curling into fetal position, and panting,_

_his eyes shut and his hands shaking into white-knuckled fists before he drew a shaking breath, and slid into a bleeding lurch_

_over the tiles. It was a brutal, tortured path, one that he knew he could not continue for much longer. His quivering limbs threatened_

_collapse with each crawling inch, but Yami only grit his teeth, closed his eyes, and prayed for a bit more strength and time._

_Yugi crouched beside Yami, eyeing the floor uncertainly and sent a tortured, questioning glance to Solomon who could only offer a helpless_

_shrug in answer. _

_Yami felt the presence of the dagger's point even as his finger brushed against the blade. The searing burn laced heat and ice against his_

_palm and he shuddered at the malice that was radiating from the deceptively serene gold. He grimaced when he felt the unclean violation of_

_Seto's blood over the cold metal, and nearly wept again as the memories of Isis and Seth swirled in his mind and vanished like smoke._

_Yami palmed the blade, turning it over and over in his hands, the sad, bitter smile curling over his lips. A few eons ago, he had been raised from _

_the dead, but sent there by the blade he held now. He winced at the memories that suddenly flooded his thoughts, and shuddered at the cold heat_

_graced his palm before cutting the flesh into one long, clean red line. Somewhere in the madness, he was certain that he heard Seth's cackle._

_"YAMI! What in the name of God are you doing?!" Yugi gasped as he snatched the dagger out of his hands, in horror, sickened at the attempt of Yami_

_to carve out his flesh. Yami's eyes narrowed, turned storm dark, as he coldly glared, and opened one hand in silent command. His voice was laced with _

_clear, regal chill as he issued the order. "Yugi. Give me the dagger. I have to make this right."_

_Yugi's lower lip curled up to stop the bawling as tears threatened to flood over even more. "Yami," he whispered, softly, shaking his head, in sad disbelief._

_"Yami...you can't make this right It's gone too far to fix now. Isis and Seto are dead, don't you see that?"_

_Yami's eyes only hardened, as he distainfully shook his head, ramming a thumb against his chest. "And what exactly does that make me, Yugi? What does_

_that make me?! Am I an undead monster, a ghost, a demon, a prisoner of fate, or some haunted remnant damned to wonder and never find forever? I've already_

_died, Yugi. I've tasted death, and I've yet to be free. This perverse immortality is a more cruel fate than even Seto and Isis have suffered. At least they're free, and _

_out of the reach of pain, of awareness, of anything that can hurt or wound, or bring forth tears. And,yet, I linger, tortured, waiting, longing for home, and release..."_

_Yami just trembled as he whispered, "And yet, it's not enough. Yugi? How long do I have to wait to be free? Is this ever going to end? Or am I more damned than Seth can ever be?"_

_Yugi only knelt beside Yami, as his hands laced over the dagger, then back to Yami's outstretched hand, with a shake of his head. "Yami. I don't have the answers, but I know that this"...Yugi held the dagger awkwardly, flinching, "won't solve this, Yami. I know you want to be free, and I know you want to go home._

_But, not like this, Yami.."_

_Yami bowed his head, and Yugi watched as the tear rolled over Yami's cheek. Raising his searching eyes to Yugi's, Yami only offered him a sad, sad smile,_

_and shook his head. "Yugi. Understand this, please. I don't belong to your world, to this time, to this...existance, and I never have. I have endured it for longer_

_than anybody should ever have to. I tried to protect you, Yugi. Know that, even if I failed you at every turn and caused the death of two inocent people. I can't_

_bear the blood of their deaths on my hands, Yugi. It cannot be undone, but it might be forgiven me if I can yet restore what was lost...forgive me, Yugi. Please,_

_forgive me for everything, and know that I tried..."_

_It was a broken smile of acceptance, and surrender as Yami flung his arms out, and Yugi found himself swept up in shaking arms. Yami held him for one brief moment, then relinguished his grip, turning to Solomon, and Yugi. "I cannot thank you enough for the kindness that you have shown me, nor can I repay it. And now...I must finish my final task while I can."_

_Solomon and Yugi only dumbly watched as Yami grimly clutched the dagger's blade to his throat, and grit his teeth, summoning the last of his strength to _

_force the blade to do its last ugly work. Yugi shuddered with a cry, and turned away, burying his face deep into Solomon's chest as the old man only patted_

_a hand over the quaking back and tried not to look away, or scream. Yami reached out, and gently tapped the old man's arm in reassurance, and a negating_

_finger wagging in the air between them. "My ending is coming, sir, but not by my hand, and certainly not in the same manner that I died so brutally. And, now..._

_I will restore life, rather than take it for once." Yami only dipped the dagger's point into the gore at his throat, the blood easily sliding over the silver and thankfully,_

_halting before any more was drawn. Solomon watched, confused, as Yami stooped on hands and knees again, placed one palm over the glittering piece with the_

_swirled eye, and pressed it over his heart. Eyes slowly closing, Yami uttered a dark chant. The Motos witnessed the disturbing sight of the lightening fork of_

_the scars at his throat bathing in white heat, as the flesh splintered open in light, and then started to pour from the old wounds of Yami's body into the remaining_

_Puzzle pieces. Yami's eyes remained serenely closed, his voice low and soft, and his hands cradling the Puzzle's remains, his face haloed in the eerie golden light_

_that seemed as pure as life itself. With a sigh, Yami relinguished the final bit of his power, and almost swooned from the strain. The golden fire grew to burning, and, at Yami's raised hand, soared high and swathed the corpses with radiance for a brief moment before Yami fell to his knees, limp and still. He did not open his eyes as Solomon frantically caught him, and Yugi pawed at him, screaming his name._

_Yami felt himself falling away, falling into the depths of the abyss itself, as his soul quelled within him in rebelling instinct of the unholy thing he was about to do._

_Darkness, thick and warm and welcome stretched before him in invitation, and he felt it drape over his tired, tired spirit like a friend's embrace. It had been so long since he had ever felt hands on him that would not hurt him. But it was a cruel delusion, nothing more and no more real than a mirror's reflection of reality. Shadows, and memories, all blurred together in one chaotic storm that was stewing in his mind and threatening to explode. Yami blanched in horror as he realized that he had something left to give, to lose after all. And yet, he plunged downward, drowning, clawing, seeking._

_It was the bright pearl of light that rose from the depths that warmed his heart. It was the familiar voice singing his name in greeting like a hymn as Isis emerged from the dark, joyful but bewildered, her garment haloed white and her cerlian eyes full of wonder. Yami said nothing to her, only flew into her arms and held her in_

_tears, clung to her like a sinner who had found salvation at long, long last. She embraced him, and the two friends held each other for a brief moment, before she pushed him back in disbelief, and eyed him, warily, not quite believing that he had come to this dark place._

_"My king?! But how did-" He silenced her with a raised finger and eyebrow, gripping her hands, and only peering into her eyes. "You saved me, my dear, dear Lady Isis. You saved me from being a monster, from being lost...you saved my humanity and preserved the hope that I could be restored again. Isis, did you really believe that I would leave you here to suffer?"_

_Isis wryly smirked, shook her head, and her laughter was like water breaking over the desert, in its mirth. "Yami, my king, if I believed you to be that way, I never would have taken the gamble that you would eventually come back. You were never as lost as you believed yourself to be,Yami. My faith in you has been richly rewarded and for that, it was worth it. As are you, my king, and my friend." The moment was brief and joyful, as Yami's eyes narrowed, warily and he scowled, consideringly. "Isis. Where is Seto?"_

_Isis said nothing, only shook her head in tears. "My king...I attempted to deliver him, and only succeeded in summoning his corpse. I cannot tell you if he shared_

_Seth's fate of being damned, or if he is beyond our reach now. Yami, I am so, so sorry."_

_A/N...I am sorry to end this chapter on such a dour note, but I hope to have an update very soon. And, no, Seto's fate is not decided yet, either._


	37. Agony

_Summoning his corpse. The dark words lingered in the air between them, as Yami heard Yugi's whining cry of grief as he slid to his knees besides Seto's lulling head, and blanched as he instinctively clutched at Seto's cold, clenched fist. Yugi shuddered in revulsion, in anguish, the brutal, breaking comprehension of the expression, 'cold as death' cruelly proving to be true. Timidly, he held quaking fingers over Seto's curled lips to see if there was any breath, groped at the_

_still throat in the wild and dying hope that there was a pulse. There was only cold, unyielding flesh, and Seto's still, still form, laying wilted and broken and bleeding at their feet. Wordlessly, Yugi rose to stare numb and disjointed at Yami, Isis, and Solomon, only shook his head, too far stricken and_

_broken to merely weep. Yami flinched as if stabbed, trembling, the truth suddenly growing teeth and claws as it burrowed through his gut. The animal inside had ravaged him, cruely snatched the merciful torpor that held him captive but distanced him from being forced to acknowledge that Seto was dead. _

_Summoning his corpse...Isis twisted her lip between her teeth, halted the tears by only closing her eyes, still grappling with the sickening guilt that her best of intentions had failed so miserably,and he had died anyway. Rage, futile and cold and volital seemed to lace at her bones themselves as she tensed, shut her eyes against the red blood that cried out against what she could not prevent._

_She felt a steadying hand drape over her shoulder,and stiffened, as her eyes shot open in shock to see the old man gazing at her, his eyes intense, but kind. "Young lady, you saved the lives of me and my grandson. You risked your own life for two strangers. If there was some way that Seto was meant to be...brought back...it would have happened, miss. I don't think that Seto would ever choose to remain as the holding cell for whatever that monster was, even if this was the only way to be free.." Solomon blanched at the raw pain that rose in Isis's darkening eyes, felt almost..violating as he felt her shoulder quake under his grasp, and he snatched his hand away as though it burned._

_Her eyes were harsh with agony as she only stared down at him for a long moment, working her lips in a grim line,and then swallowing hard as she gently nodded with a sigh, and attempted to work her lips into a polite smile that wilted miserably on her lips. "I thank you for your kind words, sir. That you and your grandson came out of this alive and comparatively well negates some of the pain that _

_Seto did not. I am grateful that I could at least salvage something in all of this."_

_"Is there any chance that...Seth could come back?" Yugi's uncertain question was laced with terror as he stared down at Seto, then turned to Yami. Yami's face contorted for a dark moment into the vicious beast that executed his high priest. Yami looked down at his hands and was suprised to see that they weren't covered with the hot wet of Seth's blood._

_"He cannot. I...I severed his existance, Yugi.He's not just...dead, Yugi, he was destroyed, body, and soul for eternity, never to rise again, never to hurt anybody. The only trace of his existance now is the memories and the price Seto willingly paid."_

_Isis winced with sudden realization, turned to Yami, the brittle question so cold as she braced herself for the inevidable answer. "The price Seto willingly paid...my king, do you mean that Seto knew that-"_

_Yami nodded, silently weeping inside as he turned to them both, scrubbing his fists futily against his eyes, so tired, so worn...so dead inside and so perversely alive._

_"Yes." It was a tortured whisper, as Yami knelt beside Seto. "It was not...depravity alone that forced me to hurt him so much. When Seto was first imprisoned by Seth, the monster let it slip just what his true intentions were, what he planned, and what he intended to do to this world after he was through killing every one of you. Seto..."Yami's voice hitched in pain. "Seto displayed his own true nature when he sacrificed his own flesh to keep Seth imprisoned, and then endured so much suffering to weaken Seth to the point that the Puzzle could work its justice. That's the reason why I had to cut him. It was the only way left to us to know if Seto was truly seperated from Seth at last, the only way we could know that Seth was at last, dead."_

_"Even if it meant killing Seto?!" Yugi sobbed. "Yami, how could you allow this?! How could you possibly justify torturing him so much, and then just...letting it go? What happened to you?"_

_Yami was silent for a long moment, as his body stiffened and his eyes turned dark and hard. Softly, he knelt beside Yugi, and whispered, brutally, "I had to become the monster I loathed and feared to save you...all of you. Seto was unwilling that any inocent blood be spilled on his account, even at the cost of his own life. I would not dishonor his last request by not protecting you. Would you dishonor his sacrifice by refusing to accept that? I know that I am corrupted, and broken. But, I am not beyond redemption, and I am far from lost forever. Whether or not you can accept that is a question that only you can answer. But, I would look well upon the cost of disbelief already." Yami_

_flung a hand over Seto's corpse with a snarl._

_Isis stared at Yami's hand trailing over Seto's corpse, in a considering glide as his other hand cupped a golden fragment of the Puzzle, the fingers absently palming the gold from side to side as _

_Yami's eyes narrowed, coldly. "My father once told me that anything could be bought either by blood, or gold. That men would exchange eternity for the fleeting moments, willingly drinking their own poison to escape the loathing of a second. Nobody knew that more than Seth. Nobody paid for it more than Seto."_

_There was a long, silent anguish that lit his eyes as he sighed, softly. "And now? My redemption will be bought with something far more vulnerable than either. My life itself."_

_Yami raised his burning, seeking eyes to Isis as she suddenly lurched forward, whispering, "No, my king! You can't-"_

_She was silenced by a gentle hand covering her own, as Yami tilted her chin downward to peer into her eyes. "My lady." The words were as forbidding as they were infinitely kind. "I can, and I must. Isis, please. Don't force me to linger longer than I have to. You know what must be, must be. I will not have any more blood on my hands, except what I must sacrifice to bring Seto back."_

_Yugi stared at them, gaping as Solomon warily gathered Yugi in his arms, and grunted._

_"What exactly do you mean by 'blood?'' Surely there's been enough spilled on that thing's account. Would you willingly shed more?"_

_Yami grimly nodded. "It is worth it to make this right. My blood and gold for his eternity is a fair trade._


	38. In Memory of Seto

_Bright, searing pain, and the gentle, slow drip of his wounds and sanity as they trickled away from him. Seto lay curled up,_

_and bleeding into the dark, his breath coming slower and slower, the pain the only testimony that he yet lived. Vaguely, he _

_heard his name being spoken with longing, as the last shred of his will stirred, the living fire slowly burning away a bit more of _

_the hazed torpor. _

"My king?" Isis's voice lingered timidly at Yami's bowed crouch, as he rocked back on heels and turned over his shoulder to peer

up at her. "What is it, Isis?"

Isis's mouth twisted as if she had swallowed blood. From the clenched forced way her words were pushed from her jaws, Yami wondered if

it was a possibility. "Seto...may not return to us, my king."

Yami blinked once, as his breath seemed to freeze in the air between them, before he heaved, and curled his shaking hands into helpless

fists, clutching and unclutching his bloodied tunic, in frenzied, shaking knots of silent, anguished paralysis. He said nothing, only looked up at Isis

with torn eyes, pleading. He heard Yugi's gasp behind him, felt Yugi's body slide next to his, shoring up against his spine in desperate, desperate

attempt to shield himself.

"No." It was a flat denial, as Yami felt Yugi's head burrow into his shoulder, and Yami instinctively curled an arm over him, futily trying to protect him.

"Seto can't...he can't be dead? Yami?" Yugi's voice was shrill and scared as he raised his huge eyes to Yami's, seeking the answer that Yami could

not give him. Yami only paled, tortured and nearly sick with grief as he shook his head, swallowed back the sudden boulder lodged in his throat.

"I'm sorry. Yugi, I..." Yami's voice died into silence as he braced his arms around his torso, as if preparing for a blow. Isis stiffened as if wounded,

stared at Yami, cringing and shaking her head in tears with a plea. "My king. Please, please, understand. Master Seto was mortal. His spirit was bright,

but his flesh..." she gestured harshly towards the corpse, "could not withstand Seth's onslaught. Bringing Seto back...might condemn him to live in that

wrecked shell, even if it could be done. I don't know that Seth's wounds could ever be healed. I don't know that Seto could stand being...broken."

It was Yugi's shrill, hissed anguish and anger that startled both, as he twisted away from the comforting cage of Yami's arms, and shoved him away.

Staring at Isis, and Yami, he snarled out, "What is wrong with you two?! Seto gave up _everything!! _He knew how much he was going to hurt, and suffer,

but he did it anyway, even when it meant dying. And, now, that there's a chance to bring him back, you're both debating if _his life_ would be worth it because he _might _not be the same?! Seto considered it worth it. Yami, he considered _you and me_ worth saving. Don't you think Seto at least deserves the same chance

he gave you to _live?!"_

Yugi's spat the words as he gave them a scathing glance and shook his head.

The only answer was Isis's tears.

"Forgive me." Yami flung his arms wide, cradled her against his shoulder, let her slump and sob against him as he only soothed

her hair in forgiving, gracious circles. "I am the only one here, my lady, who needs to be forgiven." Yami whispered. Meeting Yugi's demanding

glare with a soft smile of understanding, Yami grimly answered the unspoken question.

"Seto still lives. Whether or not he returns...will be his choice." And with that, Yami collapsed. Yugi caught him as he crumbled, shrieking his name.

Isis wordlessly helped him lower Yami to the ground, as Yugi was shaking so badly, he was in danger of dropping Yami. She said nothing at all, but only

wondered, nearly breaking again, if there was going to be two corpses instead of one. "Oh, my king..." she muttered, as she attempted and failed to

comfort the nearly hysterical Yugi.

_Gold and blood. Cold metal, and scarlet life, wet against his outstretched hands. Shackles glittering in the failing light, slimed and chilled from where they_

_had cut into his wrists. He heard the soft clink of chain, in time with his own bitter sigh of loss. Seto stared, blindly, groping in the black abyss around him,_

_burrowing like a worm as he felt the bricks again, unyielding walls of gold, and blood. Was this hell? Was this the redemption he had offered up his own_

_flesh for? Seto felt the warm wet of a tear, burning against his cold, cold cheek as it leaked from his eye, and fell to join the muck at his knees._

_He had heard the expression 'lower than dirt' spouted off to describe him growing up under the vicious fist and words of his step-father. Now, his heart broke_

_to understand what it finally meant, literally. He could feel the numb despair leaching over the last of his once formidible will, dragging whatever resolve he had_

_away, sucking it away like a bloated parasite as he felt any, or all of his many, many wounds splitting open and mingle with the scars and bruises and hurts_

_that were both inside and out. Seto grimly stared down at his bent, shaking frame, noted how much damage he had taken, how much was unhealed and _

_how much was agonizing.Most had mercifully faded to a dull, throbbing ache. The vicious, bone deep slash in his shoulder only hurt when he moved and breathed._

_The red line that Yami had carved into his forehead seared each time his face contorted with tears or pain. And, then, there was the cruelest issue of all..._

_Seth had stolen everything from him, and Yami, despite his noble promises, had apparently abandoned him to the mercy of the dark. Wearily, Seto clutched his_

_forehead, bit back the wailing cry, fought the urge to just slither down into the muck and bawl liked a kicked child. He was lost, he was alone, he was such a damn_

_idiot for ever, ever thinking that doing what was right was worth it._

_He remembered, the vicious, splintering moment of clarity, when he was caught between the torture of his mind from Seth,and the retalition of anguish from Yami's onslaught, that it didn't matter a damn thing who won. He was going to die. That sudden, horrible realization had hit like a brick to the head...or maybe more like a knife to the flesh. Seto would have wept, maybe, if he had the time, if he had reason...all he knew in the end was that everything was being taken from him, and he could either surrender to being a prisoner of the sick parody who had his face, or take the gamble that Yami might overcome his own garbage to end it all._

_End it all...Seto had shivered at the finality of the whole thing, debated for a few moments if there was any way he could salvage at least a chance to live. And, after seeing the corruption flowering from Seth, and seeing how deep the roots of evil in that monster ran...Seto knew that there was no way that Seth and Seto could be seperated unless he was willing to endure having the connections literally severed, by blade, or death, or something even darker...Seto was fairly certain that the price to be free was going to be sickening. He didn't know if it was going to be worth it. He didn't know if he could stand the thought of dying, but he did not know he could not endure being the living prison of Seth. Seto's lips curled with betrayed rancor as he recalled Yami's last words to him._

_"Seto...I will save you. But the cost will be high. The suffering will be more than you may be able to bear. I am sorry."_

_And Seto had only spat back, with all his old fire and resolve, "I don't care if you have to cut every bone out of my body. It can't be any worse than losing everything anyway, which is exactly what is happening now. If you want to make this right, then do it, damn it! Make it right! My suffering is going to happen, regardless. It is happening now. Whether or not it's in vain is a question that only you can answer." Seto had choked at the last words, and he could feel himself drowning again as_

_Seth coiled back to drag him to the deep. Yami had watched him, horrified, as Seto only groped at him, clutching his sleeve, the wordless plea dissolving in his eyes before Seth broke his control and forced him down._

_Seto could feel Seth consuming everything that made Seto who he was, drinking in the memories, gorging himself on all the strength and will and resolve, felt himself melting from ice to a pissy puddle of nothing as the onslaught continued. Seth had mockingly pat Seto's bowed head, chucked him under the chin with_

_perverse affection, and congradulated Seto for putting up "one admirable fight, despite the fact that you and I both know how this will end. Understand that this is only one needless delay, and the longer you refuse to submit to the inevidable, the longer your agony, and the more my amusement. So, Master Seto, keep fighting_

_the good fight!" Seth had cackled at Seto's snarl, but at least left him alone in the dark chamber. Seto wasn't sure if it was the same pit that Seth had been chained to, or if it was some sort of dark place Seth had created, or even if was an area in his own mind...and it didn't matter now. Seto struggled weakly against the shackles, and grunted when he found them to be as unyielding as they had always been. Was this his ending? Was he going to fester and rot away as just a ghost and a fragment, or a fly buzzing around Seth's ear when the spirit needed a toy? Was he going to be erroded away, his last bit of defiance slowly worn down_

_like the mountain becoming sand?_

_There was only the darkness and the silence for answers, and Seth's taunting, the bleeding promise of torture. Seto had shivered in certain misery at what was to _

_follow- suffering, and useless, futile existance spanning forever. A prisoner trapped in his own flesh as a prison. But then...something wonderous happened. Seto_

_was hit with a wave of agony, as he found himself abruptly flung from the dark pit into his own body, as he sat stupidly, disoriented from suddenly going from spirit_

_to solid skin. He had only time to blink before the horrible truth hit him as Yami merrily stood over him and held the blade to his shoulder. He heard Seth's slithering poison in his ear, "Since you wanted the body back so badly, my dear Seto, I hope you relish your last moments on earth." And Seto was cut again as Yami_

_snarled out Seth's name, and started hacking away. He couldn't scream, he couldn't plead, he was hurting so much, and he was dying. Overwhelmed, Seto could only weep at the pain. And then, there was suddenly a blinding flash of light, a piercing deep within his coiled heart, sharp, grinding sensation over sensation as he was hurled back into the body, and he watched as his own corpse flopped uselessly onto the floor. Seto was badly shaken, of course. It was a nightmare straight from the depths of hell to see his own body cast down like trash at Yami's feet. It moved him to see how absolutely torn the Motos were, and he was more than suprised to see that Egyptian woman crying as if she had lost a family member. _

_He had no idea what the hell was going on, truly. Was he dead, or existing in some haunted form? Or worse, was he damned to be a tormented spirit the way Yami was? Just as quickly as the flesh and the world had been given to him, it was taken away with a snarl and the agony as Seth gloated and tortured him, again._

_It might have been a thousand years, or a moment that passed, as Seto lay there, bleeding in the shackles. It hurt, everything hurt..._

_And, then, the light broke forth from the coils of the abyss swirling around him. Light, like the breath of God, pierced the ugly, faded sepia around him, as the strange, soft wanning heat rose over the stones. Seto felt his hope rise and then bitterly fall further as it congealed into the shape of the hated gold triangle._

_His lips drew back in contempt when he saw the gold solidify and uncertainly shift against the black, until it formed the solid flesh and cloth and face of the one person he nearly loathed as much as Seth._

_"Yami." Seto spoke the name with heavy, quiet hatred. His voice was scraped up from the depths of his raw throat, and it made his voice even more gruff and ugly, the sound hurting his ears. _

_There was no sound except Seto's hiss, and the rattle of chains as he shifted to peer at Yami, his azure eyes even more deep from the shadows and the grime around them. It was like looking at a dying star in the black...and it was too much for Yami to stare into for long. Those eyes spoke of rightous betrayal, the horrific_

_reminder of the cost of all of this..._

_Seto heard the horrified gasp, the nearly pleading groan as Yami slid to his knees in front of Seto's broken body, and slapped a hand over his gaping mouth. Yami had paled and looked as if he were going to be sick. "Seto...I...forgive me. Please forgive me..." The voice was threatening to break forth into weeping, and _

_Seto only bared his teeth deep into his bloodied lips in a wry, bitter grin. The eerie chuckle from Seto's shaking frame echoed over the stone._

_"When you told that thing to be gone and be damned, Yami...did you hesitate?" Seto spat. "Did the thought of how much it would cost me make you pause at all, or was the vengence that made you as sick as Seth finally kill whatever redemption you might have had?"_

_"Seto, I never meant for this to happen, I swear to you, I never wanted you to suffer like this, I never-"_

_It was Seto's unexpected belt to his jaw that nearly brought him to collapse, as Yami reeled, and raised a disbelieving hand to the throbbing cheek. Mutely, he_

_stared down at Seto, who only shook his head, the hatred making him draw away from Yami as if he were something disgusting._

_"How many scars are from you, Yami? You laughed when you cut my face. You laughed when you cut my arm to the bone, and you only stopped when that Egyptian lady forced you to. And even when you finally realized it was me who was suffering, and not Seth, you laughed. You're no less a monster than Seth, but you're worse, you sadistic bastard. Seth never lied to me about his intentions. I knew exactly what he planned to do. I knew he was corrupted beyond redemption, knew how much suffering he would inflict on other people if he had the chance. He took my life, he took my soul, broke everything that used to be Seto Kaiba.It was selish, it was cruel, and wrong, but at least it was honest. Seth didn't betray me. You were content to let me bleed and die like a gutted animal, so you could finally win your little power play against Seth, even if it meant watching me die. But, that wasn't enough for you, was it? Even if there was no chance in heaven or hell of me coming back, didn't I at least deserve an attempt at rescue? Wasn't I at least worth the token effort to save? Or are you every bit the thing Seth described?"_

_Yami could only silently plea as Seto shook his head, drew a deep breath, and continued, quietly. "When you're alone in the dark, and there's nothing to distract you. When there's no hope of salvation left, and there's nothing left to hear but the lies, and nothing left to know but the pain...Yami, do you think that might mess with my head after a while? I mean...granted, there's a lot of things that I've endured that might have made me insane along the way. I hardly had a charmed life before any of this garbage started. The ordinary stress of life might have broken me, eventually, I don't know. I might have had the luxury of a normal nervous break-down. I might have had the chance of a normal suicide, or an overdose, or any number of deaths I could have died. But you know what, Yami? Even then it would be better than this, because at least, it would be over with. But now, you even took the ending away from me. There's nothing left of me to save, and I gave that up so that Yugi, and the old man, and that Egyptian lady, and all of you would have a chance to make at least some of this...right. To keep what happened to me from happening to somebody else. I've hardly done much good in my life, I know. God have mercy on me, I know! But, I threw away my existance and my salvation, and my chances to come back so at least it would be over with. So that I could at least have something to salvage, knowing that my death wasn't just_

_me pissing my life away, or just a random murder at the hands of a monster. I didn't want all of that to be in vain. I knew I was going to die. Seth promised me that,_

_over and over again, each time he took another piece of me, each time he broke something else, each time he took the flesh and forced me to do something perverse that I never would have done on my own...I knew, and even if I didn't...it became damn obvious. But, you did even worse."_


	39. The Return

"_You became the thing you hated." The words were so quiet in their finality, and even though Seto was broken, and shackled, Yami knew that he was far more free from the violated guilt than he could ever hope to be._

_"And you chose it. There was no final breaking point for you, you bastard. There was no point of no return, no line that you were forced to cross. You weren't suddenly taken down by the monsters in the dark, and tortured, regardless of if you gave in or not. With a decay as slow as yours was..._

_you had far too many chances to stop that you never took. I had no choice in any of this, except_

_if my time left was going to count for something more than my own selfishness. My only question for you, if you truly were once brave and noble, and worth that Egyptian lady coming back to life after a few thousand years to save you...why?! You were murdered, inocently. You knew, probably even more than I do now, how much it cost you. You knew how much it hurt. What broke you to the point that you could just cast that knowledge aside to allow this-" the broken whisper was puncuated by Seto's shackles rattling as he flung his arms wide,"to happen? You can dance around the bullshit all you want, Yami, but it changes nothing. Yeah, you had some horrible things done to you, but in the end, you surrendered to the depravity and the madness just as much as Seth."_

_Yami wasn't sure what was breaking his already shattered nerves, heart, or mind more, the brutal truth that Seto spewed like a rightous fire that seared away anything less than agony. Seto, bleeding and in shackles looked more like Seth than ever. Raw, and spent, and ugly._

_That cocky self-assurance had crumbled into rigid, vicious disregard, his strength had_

_splintered into the shards and the bones and the aftermath. Seto had little left but the snarl._

_"So, what's your reason in the end of all of this, Yami? Go ahead, offer me up the justification, and the lies if it makes you feel better. It wouldn't suprise me if you had an excuse to erase your guilt, but...Yami? Can your words do anything about my broken bones, or the fact that I'm dead? Go ahead, after all the hell I've been through on account of you...you owe me that at least.''_

_And Seto settled himself down in the most comfortable position that his aching body and so many_

_broken bones and wounds would allow. The shackles rattled so loud, the wince and groans of pain_

_were searing across Yami's heart. Seto stared up at him, in patient expectation, in indifferent despair. Yami would have felt slightly more at ease if Seto had dissolved into animalistic howls, or at least...Yami shook his head, could not complete the thought. He didn't want to know._

_Shoring up his last defenses, summoning whatever scraps of guts and resolve he had, Yami_

_drew himself to his full height, bit back the groan of pain. The wanning light wasn't condusive for_

_seeing very well, but Seto sucked in a sudden breath that ended in a harsh hiss of realization as he_

_saw that Yami was covered in blood as well. Indeed, from the wounds and the bruises, and the large slashes that had been hacked into Yami's flesh...it looked as if Yami had died as well._

_Seto's eyes buldged with the thought, and he trembled. "Damn it. Don't tell me that you died, too?_

_Is that...thing still alive then?"_

_Yami was silent for a long moment, as he shakily drew back from the weight of Seto's questions, and gaze. "Seto, he is dead. Seth is gone, damned, never able to rise again. You may take it by my word or my scars."_

_Seto sneered at that. "I don't have to, Yami. I saw him...leave. He was bleeding and dying and wailing as he fell down into the dark. He even gave me a parting gift, you know." And with that,_

_Seto sharply thrust his chin upward, revealing the huge, gaping slash that went from ear to ear, still_

_dripping with scarlet tears. Yami only inhaled, as Seto smirked, and shook his head. _

_"Seth said that he wanted to leave his mark. That since he knew you would come, he wanted to answer the final question of if he was corrupted beyond saving, by leaving me with the answer that I could still give, even if my voice gave out from the screaming. So, tell me, Yami. What do you want to take by my scars?"_

_Yami bowed his head, despair curling his fists and his entired bent frame shaking from whatever tortured thoughts were coursing though him. Helplessly, his fingers ventured upwards, to his own_

_throat, where the flesh was now perversely healed and smooth beneith his palms._

_"I have come to take nothing from you, Seto."_

_Seto only snorted. "Because there's nothing left of me to take. I get it."_

_Yami flinched, snarled, as the fire rose to his eyes, and he lurched to his feet. Seto recoiled with a_

_squeal when he felt Yami's hands suddenly clamp over his throat, heard the hissed words between them. Yami's eyes were shut, his mouth a grim, resolved line of pain, the sweat breaking in bright_

_beads in the torch light. As suddenly as the grip had come, it fell away. Yami stepped away, the smirk melting to gentle satisfaction, as Seto opened his eyes and gaped._

_The shackles had fallen with a loud rattle at his feet and wrists. The unbearable ache and weariness and the hidious slashes to shoulder, throat, and cheek were completely unmarred, the pain fell away like water. Seto held up his wrists in wonder, saw the pink flesh, saw that the calluses, and the indentions were gone. His jaw fell open as he raised his shoulder without the blinding pain, saw his clothes were no longer blood-soaked but pristine and new._

_The splintering scar across his throat was gone. All of it, was just...gone._

_"But there is everything left for you to have, Seto. I have come to restore to you what was lost, give back to you what was so cruely taken, and heal what's been hurt."_

_Yami's words were warm and soft as he offered Seto a hand to help him rise. Seto stared at it with a scowl, grunted, and rose from the floor by himself. "Oh? Can you erase all that's happened? Can you give me my life back?"_

_Yami smirked, sadly. "No, I cannot give you back your life. I cannot erase what's been done, nor can I heal all the scars. All I can give you, Seto, is a new chance to live beyond it. The question is if you'll take it."_

_Seto stared at him, for a long moment, silent, and uncertain. "Why wouldn't I take that chance? Did that monster do something to my body that you can't restore, or is there something else you're not telling me?"_

_Yami shook his head, only stared at him, before gently grasping his wrist between two hands._

_"I have restored you, healed you. I have given back to you everything that I have stolen, Seto._

_I have done all that I can do to make this right. But, I know what it is to be haunted."_

_Seto snickered, a bright cruel laughter that cut Yami to the bone as he snatched his hand away, whirled. "Oh? And what exactly do you think I learned from that monster running around in my head? What do you think you did to Yugi when you were living in his thoughts? What do you think that does to a normal human being, to be disrupted, and made a vessel and a slave to things and monsters that should have stayed dead? Haunted doesn't even begin to convey that horror, Yami._

_Yeah, you have lived a hell of a lot longer as a ghost, or a spirit, or whatever you are. But, you've never been a coffin for a dead thing, have you? You don't know what it's like to have your soul corroded, to be consumed...don't patronize me like that, if you have any respect at all for what I went through for all of you. You don't know a damn thing about being haunted."_

_"No. But I do know how much it costs to live afterward. I have scars as well, Seto." The answer was soft and bitter. _

_Yami rose to face him. "Do you wish for me to restore you to your existance, Seto? Do you wish to return to the world?"_

_"YES!" Seto barked out the answer as Yami only gave him an eerily triumphant little smile, as he nodded. "Very well. Live your life, Seto Kaiba. Be restored, and please...be healed."_

_Seto only had time to open his mouth, attempting to hurl another insult, before he collapsed._

_Yami caught Seto's limp form in his arms, held solid flesh against him for a lingering moment, wondering if he yet again held a corpse. Yami gently lowered himself to the ground, and with a silent prayer, watched as the soft trickle of light slowly engulfed Seto's form, and with a muted shimmer of starlight, disolved it from the horrible place._

It had been nothing but fearful, fretting, pacing hell, as Yugi had gone from staring in mute, stunned

paralysis at staring at the corpses, to bitter, frantic pacing. He was as restless as a caged tiger, refusing to be soothed by Isis's wearying promises of Yami's good intentions. Solomon had bluntly asked her what the hell Yami was intending to do. Isis could only offer a vague shrug and an apology, stating that her 'beloved king and friend' might have been so broken by all the passing horror, that she no longer knew his heart, and therefore, could not tell of his future.

Meanwhile, the corpse of Seto Kaiba had lay where it had fallen, a poignant, ugly reminder of all that had passed. Whatever refuge Yugi might have sought in pretending the whole thing was just a nightmare was erased whenever he was confronted with the tragic sight of Seto's body. It had been a few hours, or a few years. Solomon was already grousing about the practical concern for the future of the Moto family if they were found with the bleeding corpse of a billionaire in their living room. Yugi had found it callous, cold, and absolutely cruel to even consider what to do about that.

Isis could only shudder in horror as the old man lifted the body, covered it with a blanket. Solomon looked almost apologetic, as he shrugged. "It's disrespectful for us to just sit here and stare. Even Seto Kaiba deserves more than..._this."_

Isis stared, unseeing at the wilted form now draped in white, her fingers abscently gliding over her necklace. Suddenly, she rose from her seat, gripped Yugi's wrist, flung him behind her. Yugi had

nearly toppled to the floor, and fretfully forced himself upright, fear coiling in his gut. Solomon

was already cradling his small grandson at Isis's hiss and gesture for them both to take shelter behind her.

"Miss Isis? What is it now?" Solomon warily poked his head from behind the couch, and Yugi gawked to see the old man raising high a baseball bat over his shoulder, ready to swing.

There was no sound in the icy tension but Isis's panting, as she whispered an incantation and the golden fire suddenly flooded her hands and the room.

"Who the hell put me on the floor?!" Seto's irritated bark roared through their disbelieving ears as the limp form suddenly snatched the blanket it away and hurled it far. The only answer was Isis's merry laughter as she held out a hand to Seto, which he scowled at, and waved away. With a grunt,

Seto shakily rose to his feet, to his full towering, glorious height, felt his skin welcome and familiar

back. He could have wept from the relief, but did not.


	40. Ghosts

Seto felt as wobbly as a new-born fawn, though he disguised it well with a disgusted grunt, shivering as he yanked himself out of the concerned clutches of Yugi. The world tilted beneith his feet and he slid to the couch to avoid falling flat on his stomache. He felt the gentle hands guiding him downward as he folded his legs and slumped. Wearily, he scrubbed his head, shut his eyes, and fought the understandable urge to sob.  
It was just too damn much, all at once, all of it slamming into his gut with the force of a blow, and he wondered idly, if the splintering of everything was his heart twisting in its death throes from the shock of it all, or if the sky was really falling at last.

If he were alone, Seto knew without any unflinching pretention, that he would fall apart and wail like a dying animal, it hurt that much. Had he really died? Did he really live now? His flesh felt solid, and real. The chains and scars and the nightmares were over with. Seto abscently rubbed his wrists, brow furrowing to see that there was not even a callous. "So, the freak show did keep his promise." He mused, softly.

Isis suddenly stiffened at the words, kneeling unnoticed by Yami's still form.  
Shaking, she lay desperately seeking hands for breath and warmth, pleading that she would feel life again in his tortured flesh. She drew a shuddering cry of sharp pain when she felt the cold blood from one of his many wounds against her finger tips. She cradled the bloodied fist against her tunic, curled into a negating ball of denial. "No..." The word was almost unheard, it was so softly wept out from her sudden, raging grief.

Seto heard the small hitch of strangled breath, explode as loud as gunfire in the silence, as he craned his neck over Yugi's small shoulder, and saw Yami laying where he had collapsed. No. Surely after all that the freak show had done, and been through, the ending for him wasn't...this...

Seto lurched to his feet, his mouth already flung open to demand an explanation from the weeping Egyptian woman. "Seto?" Yugi's kind and unwelcome queery pierced through his anguish, as Seto warily slid his chin from the haven of his clenched hands, and narrowed his eyes to glare at Yugi, questioningly.  
"Yugi." Seto barked out, flinging a hand in the direction of Yami's unmoving heap, and regretted it when he saw Yugi's bright eyes suddenly widen, and his mouth gaping when he saw at last.

Yugi's joyous grin faltered into miserable uncertainty, when he saw that Seto's cerilian eyes shimmering with tears, then harden to his usual cold glare as he only breathed and stared at the limp corpse of Yami.  
Silently, Seto shook his head, grit his teeth, snarled out to anybody who could answer, "Is he gone?"

Isis lurched forward, head bowed under the terrible weight of the answer, as she slid her ravaged eyes upwards from her splayed, numb hands clutching Yami's cold one. "He restored you, Master Kaiba. He gave up everything that he could possibly give to set you free." Seto quirked an eyebrow at her, not missing the knife's edge of accusation underlaying all the sorrow.

"Just like I did?" Seto asked softly, his voice raw as he closed his eyes, and turned away from the sight, crossing his arms, trying and failing to shield himself from the sight of the corpse. "Really? Did your noble king wake up one day to have a monster inhabiting his thoughts? Was your king tortured and stabbed and slowly hacked to death while the rest of you just sat by? Hmmm? I thought not"  
Seto hissed out the last words, as he stiffened, drew his coat around his long arms like a cacoon. He tried to scrub away the ache from his throbbing forehead. Thank God at least the pain was physical and something easily remedied with something as simple as a pill. Thank God Seto had at least that reassuring sensation, regardless of how annoying it was. He would welcome the skull-splitting migraine over the voices any day, now.

He was silent when he saw the three faces hovering over Yami,contorted with overwhelmed grief. Seto grimaced, unnerved, and uncertain, then flushed with rage when he saw Isis's slender hands drifting towards her necklace, her lips moving in a silent incantation. Seto only felt the hot flare of magic searing his finger tips as he snatched the necklace away, flung it to the floor, shaking.

"Damn it to hell, can't you just let the dead rest in peace? I may hate the bastard, but for the love of God!  
Let him go!"

Isis paled, said nothing, only gaped at him, as Yugi warily slid beside Kaiba, who gave them all a look of sheer venom. "Just...let the damn thing go. If any of you had made that choice...hell, it's not worth my time to explain." Seto shook his head in disgust, kicked a shard of the Puzzle with his boot in distain, and turned on his heel to stride out the door, away from the whole thing, and back into whatever life a former dead man could hope to live.

It was the sound of Yugi's soft, sobbing whimper, and pleading hand that stopped him. Seto swirled with a snarl, arm raised to bat the small hands away, his overtaxed nerves splintering, and his veneer of indifference dangerously close to breaking.

"Look, runt. I've done all I'm going to do for you, which is more than you deserve. Take it or leave it, I don't care any more. I'm done with this Egyptian bullshit. I'm going home, taking the strongest sleeping pill I have, and maybe I can convince myself this whole thing has been nothing but a nightmare." Seto had regained enough of his rancor from the bewildered circumstances to rise to his full height, intending to do nothing less than spew like a volcano, when he heard Yami's velvet voice purr smugly within the confines of his skull, "Did I not tell you your in ability to face the truth will be your downfall, Kaiba?"

The dark, mirthless cackle made Seto turn to ice as he clapped a hand to his temple in horror, paralyzed and disbelieving. He heard Yugi squeal his name as he twisted away, buried his head in his hands, trembling, stricken. "Not again." Seto's harsh whisper hung from his lips as he almost shrieked. "God, not again! I..I can't live through this again, God, I can't..." His voice rose to a shriek, laced with hysteria, as Isis encircled his spasmodic frame with comforting arms. Seto could not stop the tears as he crumbled, wrapping arms around his heaving rib cage, bringing palms to his stinging eyes. "It can't be happening again! I can't go through it again, I'll either die or go insane before he finally breaks me completely!"

Surely fate could not be so cruel. Surely it was finally the madness taking over and drowning him. He felt his thoughts fraying like the noose that holds a dying victim, snap as the body dropped. He saw Yugi's face, smeared by the wet, felt Isis's soothing hands and soft voice as she glided one hand down his bent back. He did not acknowledge either one. He couldn't. He heard Yugi's gentle coo of understanding, as he sat down across from Seto. Yugi gave him a radiating smile, whispered with raptured awe, "Seto...you're not going mad, I promise! It's Yami! I heard him, too! He's alive! Isis, Yami's alright!" Seto stiffened in revulsion when he heard Yami's bright laughter echoing down his mind, and his face contorted. Yugi's smile trembled into disbelief as Seto buried his head in his hands, and only trembled. 


	41. Seto's Revenge

A bit of a twist...maybe...

Faded Nights Shadow Themselves to Grey

How was I to know it was the last day?

Alone with the disease I know as loneliness

Alone with these bright shadows of smiles

Bright breaking shore, of heaven, maybe more

And it's passing brief, except for the tortured mile

An Inch of Daylight, God,-

To light my way out of hell

An inch of daylight,where my feet may trod

To comfort myself as I fail.

"Did I not promise to restore you? Kaiba, why are you weeping?" Yami's voice was genuinely uncertain, as

Seto only shuddered, shaking his head, trying to get the hated voice to stop.

Existance itself seemed to die, and rot in the dark moments, as Seto cupped his forehead in his

hands, and wept. The ice of tears against his cheeks, the sear of raw, savage pain, leeching deep from

his core, and breaking over everything like a tidal wave dragging him back under.The soft hitching breath of the waiting world, as he crumbled, while Yugi and Solomon only gaped in awe,

and Isis was soon running soothing hands over his quaking back, in small circles. Yugi's mouth fell open

to see the majestic, soaring dragon crying like a child, curled up and surrendering, and wailing from an

agony too deep to even begin to grasp.

"Master Kaiba." Isis's silken voice was compassionate, as she hesitantly lay a hand over his shoulder. Seto's grunt of negation and the bone-snapping flinch was enough to halt her effort, but she still kept her hand draped over his trench coat. She could feel his pulse thundering through his disbelieving veins, the helpless, hopeless wound as Seto scrubbed tears out of his eyes, and gave her a long, brutal stare.

There was nothing but silence, until Seto snarled, softly, "You promised me it would be over with! Why the hell are you doing this?! Haven't I been tortured enough?!"

The words were taunt as frayed rope, laced with Seto's shattered nerves as he yanked the sleeves of his trench coat, in helpless aggitation. "Damn it, I can't do this again." Seto whispered harshly as he sighed, his eyes narrowing. "What are you going to do to fix this?" It was nothing more than a growled demand.

Yami's voice echoed like silent thunder as he hesitantly answered, "I am sorry to distress you so much, Kaiba, and all shall be right again. Please, give me a moment, and please, please, don't give into the despair. You are stronger than this, are you not?"

Seto ran a quaking hand through his dark hair, closed his eyes, and dropped his chin til it nearly hit his knees. "You should have left me to die, and let me rest in peace. You should have destroyed the Puzzle and that monster and your ass-ghost of a king and left me the f-- alone. Even if it meant my death, even if it meant me ending my life as it was...it would have been an act of mercy compared to all the emotional fallout and the absolute hell I'll carry with me until I really am dead. If I stay dead, and if I'm not ressurected to be a parasite the way that thing that took my mind was." Seto spat bitterly, shrugged away her

hands.

Yugi could sense the anguish over Seto's withdrawal, as he retreated as far as he could from Seto's awareness, reeling from the agony that was bleeding up from Seto's shattered thoughts.

Yugi noticed Seto's shoulders droop in despairing surrender, his azure eyes broken, his spine bent into submission. It was more unnerving than even seeing Seth in all his brutality.Nervously, he ran quaking fingers through his spikes, gaping openly at Seto, as he inched closer to Isis, and his grandfather.

"I would have been better off dead." The words were groaned as Seto's mouth twisted into what looked like an alarming smirk, as his azure eyes slid upward from the cage of his fingers. Yugi swallowed hard, tilted his head to the side, uncertainly. "Why didn't you just leave me to die?!"

"Seto? This isn't like you...this isn't like you at all to just give up so easily. I know, it's overwhelming, but it's going to be alright, I promise! The worst is over now, don't you see that?" Yugi's voice grew more shrill as Seto merely shrugged, and his lips curved upward into an eerie smile.

"Yes, Yugi." He whispered. "The worst is over with, now!" The sharp hiss was puncuated by the bright arch of the Puzzle's shard Seto held in his hand as he plunged it downward into his chest. Yugi's shriek and Seto's collapse rose to a bloody cresendo of panic and disbelief as Seto studied the gaping hole, with a smirk, his cold eyes rising to meet Isis.

"My dear lady Isis. Do you not recognize an old friend when you see one?" Seth's silken purr grew chilled and clipped as he casually slid his arms together, and clapped his hands in one cold, steady stacatto. It was the only sound in the room, except for Yugi's whimper and Isis's hiss of breath.

"Seth."

She breathed his name with loathing, as her eyes narrowed, and her necklace flared white against her quaking throat. "You snake.What have you done with my king and Master Kaiba?" She snarled out, as she shoved Yugi behind her, and raised arms like wings, protectively.

_Alive. Yami felt like he was falling inward, gently as water, able to ignore the screams of whoever it was that kept pulling at his flesh. It was peaceful in the dark, so quiet, so still. He didn't know if it was death, or delusion. He did not know if this was deliverance, and he did not care. He was at peace, and the pain was gone._

_The world had faded, Seto was serenely ignored, and Yami was so far gone that he could not even feel the bright, confining shackles of gold and blood encircling each limb. Bright shards of the Puzzle grew teeth, the golden bricks flickered, the shards rose of their own accord, and bared their blades, ready to kill._

_Seto._

_The billionaire had gone from being broken and bleeding to his shackles falling away, and his wounds being swallowed up in light. The agony had suddenly disappeared, his fire returned, his resolve flooding through him like potent lava as Seto rose to his full towering height, and could not help but give himself_

_a cocky little smirk. The elation only lasted a precious moment before Seto saw Yami's hazy eyes, the serene, surrendering smile breaking forth over his face, as the spirit only murmured, "Be restored, and be healed, Seto Kaiba. Forgive me, please." The words were breathed softly as a prayer, as Yami collapsed at Seto's feet, as if he had been cut down at the knees. Seto cried out in alarm, lurched backwards instinctively, shuddered when he heard Seth's cackle falling down like thunder from the endless ceiling above their heads. Scowling, Seto slapped the limp arm with a growl, flinched at how cold it was. Grimacing, Seto gripped Yami's body by the shoulders, and shook it until the head lulled, and Seto almost dropped the corpse with a shriek of horror._

_"You f--ing idiot!! Get the hell up, and get me out of here! That monster is still alive, and he's going to finish us both off if you don't snap out of it. Wake up,damn it!" Seto let fly with a brutal kick to Yami's injured rib, and shuddered at how the body just flopped with the force of his boot. Panting, Seto pivoted to glare_

_at the unhelpful golden hell around him. Seto let out a stream of frustrated cursing, rage giving him strength as he stared down at Yami in disgust._

_"You picked one hell of a time to die, you know that? I gave up my life so that you would have a chance in hell of making this right, not so that you could just surrender like this! Damn it, Yami..." Seto sighed, numbly, wondering what was happening with his body, or even if he had a body left to return to. He only hoped that the Egyptian lady had enough fire power left in that magic maker she wore to destroy the monster once and for all. It was pathetic that Seth had duped them all into believeing that he was really Seto. Seto's lip curled when he watched the waterworks, and that pathetic, whimpering sob. Please, did they really think he would become some pissy, limp-wristed whine-bucket after being raised from the dead?! Seth had definitely overdone it. But from seeing the raptured look on Yugi's face, the little runt was easily duped, after all. Seto sighed in disgust. If he ever made it out of this situation alive, he was going to kick somebody's ass afterwards._

_His scowl deepening, Seto popped his knuckles, and tilted his head to the golden walls around him. "I know you can hear me, you rat. I hope you've enjoyed your parasetic existance, because it ends here and now." Seto's challenge echoed off the walls, and there was no answer except Seth's amused cackle. Pivoting sharply, Seto arched an eyebrow. "Quit being a coward and show yourself. Or, are you afraid that I'll win?"_

_"So, you think you can challenge the immortal and win back your pathetic existance? Were you not watching when the immortal king who lays dead at your feet was slain by my hand?" The question was coy,and Seto fought the urge to shudder at the cold tone, and Seth's hated voice._

_"Spare me the dramatics, dumbass. If you were so successful in killing him the first time, exactly what is he doing in the modern world, now? Doesn't a successful murder usually mean that the victim stays dead? And for that matter, exactly how do you explain my being here?!" Seto spat, as he warily glanced around for any more unpleasant suprises._

_"As amusing as your attempts at logic may be, you are alive because our dear king could not find it in himself to let you perish as I tried so hard to accomplish."_

_Seto snickered, shook his head. "Spare me the excuses. Did you really think that any of us would be so foolish as to allow your sick existance to continue? Did you really believe that I would have allowed things to go this far without the means to stop you?"_

_Seto's smirk darkened, the wry chuckle burbling forth with no mirth as he reached into the deep pocket of his trench coat, pulled out the golden shard of the Puzzle, and palmed it._

_"In the peversely immortal words I've heard far too much...be gone and be damned, you bastard!" With that, Seto plunged the sharp shard into Seth's waking throat, ground it in deep enough he felt it hit bone, and splintered. White heat, red blood, the harsh wet of scarlet against his fist, the deep, deep convulsion of the death throes as Seth stared upward at him, his azure eyes already empty, as he quietly slid downward at Seto's feet._

_"Go to hell, and stay there this time." Seto snarled out, as he watched the limp form shimmer with the wanning light, the same, hungry hue as the Puzzle before it_

_wafted away out of existance._


	42. Hope

There was only silence and the sounds of his harsh breath being heaved out through his clenched teeth as Seto could only stare down, numbly at the stones at where Seth's body had so quietly faded from view. He put a palm to his quaking forehead, did not fight the bone deep tremor that gripped his whole frame. Closing his eyes, Seto siddled down the wall until he was a bowed, quivering heap of shot nerves and broken torpor.Numbly, Seto closed his eyes, cradled his sweated forehead in his equally shaking hands.

Seto fought the urge to vomit, and sob, fought the urge to wail and claw at the bricks, and finally surrendered to the more comforting urge to let fly a few explicits at the brick walls in a show of futile, defiant rage. He did not bother to open his eyes when he heard nothing more than the echo of his own words reverberating in a vicious taunt. He shivered.  
It was all too familiar to him, now. Seto swallowed hard, with a scowl. He had no way of truly knowing if he had finally liberated himself from Seth or if that monster was still lingering in the shadows of wherever the hell Seto was at the moment. Seto whimpered at the thought, but choked it back down. Pissing himself over a possibility would do him no good.

Seto raised his head from the cacoon of his hands, eyes narrowed at the gloaming dark,  
the emptiness, the silence. He shivered at the mournful thought that he had been liberated only to die in his own tomb. And, then, his eyes drifted downward, and Seto shot to his feet with a wailing cry.

Trembling, he clapped a hand over his mouth as he lurched away from the sight, his spine slamming into the hard bricks behind him, as he whimpered, raised a hand, hesitating.

Yami.

His eyes were closed with finality, his serene, placid face untouched by scar, or blood,  
burning pale alabaster against the muck and the grime of the floor beneith him. His hands lay palms down, a shard graced with scarlet still cradled in his fingers. Peace fell over that still form like snow in all its lingering torture. Seto's breath hitched in his chest,  
froze in disbelief, choked its way free with a sharp hiss of desperate denial.

Seto held a palm against Yami's closed mouth, waiting for a brush of breath. Seto winced with regret when he remembered the brutal kick he had given Yami, that sad, sad finality Yami had given him in surrender before he had yielded the frail tether...

Breath, nearly unnoticed and invisible wafted against his palm. Yami groaned, his features twisted in pain as his violet eyes fluttered open, languidly, then shot open in disbelief.

"Kaiba?" Yami ground out, as he swallowed hard.

Seto smirked, and shrugged. "In the flesh. My own flesh, I might add. Are you going to live?"

Yami groaned again, nodded as he closed his eyes. "I believe so. Your injuries...they are gone?"

Seto grunted in dismissal, quickly yanked down the sleeve of his coat and shirt to expose the healed shoulder, before shrugging it back into place. "I'm fine." Seto snarled as he turned away.  
Yami only gave him a tired smile of weary relief. "I'm glad." He whispered as he ventured a hand over his own scars. Seto raised an eyebrow in surprise to see Yami's smile halo into ecstatic disbelief.

"They're gone." He whispered in astonishment. "All my scars...they're gone!" His voice was raptured in awe as he turned to Seto, wide-eyed.

Seto allowed a shrug as he narrowed his eyes and ground out, "My scars are gone, too. Whatever you did.  
worked, oddly enough."

Yami did not answer, as he rose shakily to his feet, and stared at the shard covered in blood. He flung it away with a snarl. "And Seth?" Yami hissed in poisoned rememberance, his hand lingering over his throat.

"I killed him myself." Seto's words were blunt and indifferent as he raised searing eyes to Yami, tilting his head.

Yami nodded, grimly, folded his arms over each other, warily as he stared at Seto for a long moment. His eyes were filled with some dark emotion that Seto could not quite decipher before Yami turned away. Staring at the wall, Seto could barely hear the whispered "thank you," harsh as wind over stone as Yami curled his fists in anguish.

"Seto."

Yami's eyes slid over his shoulder as he turned to face him, the glitter of tears masterfully hidden by the regal mask.  
Seto sighed in disgust, and sadness, as he shook his head.

"It had to be done, damn it. It's not like he left me a whole lot of choice.Besides, what the hell do you think would have happened if I had let him go onto finish his masterpiece? Care to guess?"

Yami's eyes narrowed as Seto's mouth twisted from its smirk to a grim, bitter line. "He planned on killing every one of you,runt. And he had no intention of stopping there."

Yami trembled, sickened as Seto only bowed his head and closed his eyes against the onslaught of memories. Seto did not open his eyes when he heard Yami's soft sob of disbelieving horror. "I knew he was depraved, Seto. I died by his hand, I lay bleeding under his dagger, I saw his torture.."

"And what do you think I saw when he was messing with my head, runt? I was given front row viewing to your murder, over and over again. If it wasn't that, he was giving me a play by play account on how many different ways there were to dismember people..It was nothing but blood and screams, when he wasn't trying to drive me insane with his incessant whining on how much a pain in the ass I was for interferring with his plans."

Yami's mouth fell open at the casual admission as Seto only sighed irritably, and snapped,"What is it now?"

"How much did you interfer with his plans, Seto?" Seto's eyes narrowed coldly, as he shook his head.

"How much?" There was nothing but annoyed, embarrassed silence as Seto's cheeks flamed at the relunctant admission.

"You're here, aren't you? Do you really think that was because Seth was in a charitable mood, or because I put up a bit of resistance to keep you from being carved to ribbons?"

Seto's shoulders hitched in aggitation, as Yami only stared up at him, completely awed by the realization of so much sacrifice.

"There's no way I can attempt to repay you."

Seto smirked at that. "Knowing my bank account, I would agree with you.Enough with this happy-ass therapy session. How are you going to get me home?"

Yami sighed, gave him another tired smile. "You will be pleased to know that that will be easily accomplished, Master Kaiba."

And before even Seto could bark out his alarm, they were engulfed in a warm swirl of light.

+ 


	43. Reunions and tears

It may have been a modern home, full of cheer, and welcome, but to her, it was little more than another tomb. It held the corpses that belonged in a tomb, there was clearly the marks of decay and death, there was the taint of loss on everything, and she did not know if her fracturing heart could take any more pain. Yugi could only watch in pain as the majestic woman bowed her head, and allowed tears to trickle down her crumbled cheeks. Seto lay where he had fallen, his trench coat concealing some of the damage done. He was mercifully unmarred, at long last, but his face was still a twisted mask of anguish, and his limbs were splayed, eternally locked in a struggle that he could not win. Thankfully, his eyes were closed, and she was at least spared the pain of seeing those cerilian eyes of Seto, mirrored in Seth's torture. It mattered little, now. She would never be able to erase the memories, and as noble as Seto had proved himself to be, he was still a haunting reminder of Seth.

Wearily, she bent to smoothe away a wrinkle from the trench coat,in mournful tribute. "May I be forgiven, Master Kaiba, for all that you've lost, all that you've sacrificed, and it all being in vain, anyway. May you be eternally blessed for laying your life down for others. I have no means to repay you. May my sorrow be enough proof of my intentions, and may my guilt be worthy of all you've bore for us."

Yugi only shook his head, unnoticed and numb from his own grief as he softly whispered, "I never knew that Seto was even capable of this. I mean, he never did anything for anybody that I ever saw. I never, ever thought he would do something.  
like this."

Isis said nothing, as her heart clenched in her chest. She slid to her knees besides Yami's body, gripped his hand between her own, and cringed at how cold it was. 'Oh, my king, and my friend,..." she moaned, closed her eyes, a fist knotted to her lips to hold back the scream. She had seen hell unleashed in her long years, depravity in all its measure, the breaking of all she knew to be real and right, and through it all...

She still believed with whatever shreds of faith she had left that Yami could be restored. That he could live, and be free, and, at long, long last, be at peace. Her azure eyes rose to the alabaster ceiling that rose over her head, to the beige walls of the strange modern house that the Motos lived in. Her eyes fell down to linger with anguish over Yami's corpse. He lay in the coils of death, stolen, but so peaceful. So still. His limbs were laying gently at his side, not contorted in the deaththroes of having his throat slashed open. Not caught in that horrific agony that replayed in her nightmares. There was no blood, no hint of violence. Only surrender, and aching emptiness. Was it not supposed to be this way after so long? Was it not what Yami had pleaded for? And yet...her wounded sense of justice was screaming against the unfairness of it all.

And, for the first time in over 5000 years, the noble spirit of Isis finally faltered in miserable uncertainty, and for the first time, she could not hold back her tears.

There was no dramatics, no wailing grief. Just silence and wet dripping down her cheeks from her closed eyes, and bitterly twisted mouth as she slid herself into a cacoon of broken faith and wounded, wounded, never ending sorrow. With one breath,  
it was a prayer, another, a silent sob, as she buried her head in her hands, and finally cried for all that had been lost, all that had been sacrificed, and despite the pain, to find it all worth nothing.

She cringed against the feeling of an uncertain hand over her shoulder, as she whipped her head away from the cradle of her arms. She could not help the glare that came to her eyes as Yugi bit his lip and siddled away a bit before sliding down beside her in a crouch.

Worriedly biting his lip between his teeth, he only gave a trembling sigh, and bit back a sob as he gave her a shaking smile full of pain and kindness.

"You did everything you could." Yugi whispered, as he stared down at the two that lay broken at his feet. Isis winced at the unwelcome realization that she was not the only one who bore scars from the horror. Yugi was silent for another moment, before he ventured,

She flinched, said nothing, but could only shrug in dismissal, too stricken to speak. Yugi sighed again, flung a hand at the bent corpses at their feet. "And so did they, Miss Isis. Regardless of the outcome...in the end...we all did what we could.  
It's awful and unfair that it...just wasn't enough, I know. Believe me..." he choked, forced himself to continue.  
"I know."

Isis nodded, graced him with a kind smile as she gently took his hand in her own. "As do I, little one. But it's such a bitter price to be paid, at the end of all of this..." Brooding silence fell between them as Yugi grimaced and nudged a shard away,  
warily.

Isis chuckled bitterly, shook her head. "Do not fear them, little one. They have no power, now. No ability to wound no ability to inflict torture...and completely useless as my king and master Kaiba lay dead around them."

Yugi slumped, the weight and the terrible knowledge fracturing his heart anew as he bowed his head in grief. Isis did nothing more than drape a protective arm over him, taking refuge in feeling another's sorrow. It was the only real thing that she understood. And at the moment, it was all she had left.

Until her necklace surged with white heat at her neck, and she heard Yugi's bewildered shriek.

Seto knew well what dying felt like. He remembered the searing anguish, the dismayed helplessness, and the torment, but not the peace. It was enough to drive him to say a prayer as the light swirled around him and Yami in one bright, arch of fire.  
He had no time to breathe, cry out or even blink before he felt the odd, but rather pleasant sensation of his core being poured out like water back into his flesh.

The only way he knew how to describe it to himself later was the comfort of coming home after a long, long journey. Spirit again melded with flesh. Bright awareness and body clung together as Seto felt life surge back into his veins.

He heard the gasp of relief beside him, as Yami was apparently refleshed..or ressurrected...? Seto wasn't sure what to call it as he drew a long, long sweet breath, felt the comfortable carpet beneith his palms, the glare of lamplight against his closed eyes. His brow furrowed when he heard the vague snatches of conversation between Yugi and Isis, and was completely bewildered to hear the grief that came from them. He was being mourned?!

"I'm not dead, so you can quit the waterworks." Seto's biting voice fractured the living room into complete pandemonium as Yugi shot to his feet and shrieked in terror. Seto opened his eyes to see Yugi shoving a fist to his mouth and frantically backpedaling, his eyes huge and terrified, his whole body trembling. Isis gasped, gripped Yugi's shoulder in a clenched fist as she could only gape and stare.

A soft groan behind him announced Yami's inpending arrival. Smirking, Seto turned to see Yami slowly open his eyes, and only breathe with a peaceful smile over his face as he lay serene and still. Clearly, he was savoring the liberation and getting his bearings for a moment.

Seto shook his head, lips curled into a sneer as he sat up. "Welcome back, runt."

Yami gave him a smirk, as he opened his eyes, rolled his head to face Seto. "Thank you, Master Kaiba."

Yami sat up as well, but nearly toppled over as Yugi flew into his arms with a fierce, disbelieving embrace. Yami's eyes bulged in confusion for a brief moment, but he surrendered to the embrace as he bowed his head and clapped a reassuring hand over Yugi's quaking back.

"I can't believe you're back! I can't believe that you're safe! Yami, I thought...I thought..." Yugi could say nothing more as he sobbed.

"I know." Yami whispered as he soothed Yugi,protectively. He gave Solomon a weary smile over his shoulder when he saw the old man nod approvinging, and grunt paternally, "Well done, my boy. Well done, indeed."

Seto watched the whole exchange with silence and an arched eyebrow, as he slid his arms over his torso. He was content to be ignored for the moment, welcomed the temporary refuge to collect his thoughts, to 'get his head straight,' as he called it.

"My king." Isis's soft words fell behind Yami as he turned his head to see her standing in the haloed light, one hand clutching her necklace. His lips twisted at the sight of her tears as he gently released Yugi and stepped towards her.

"Isis." Yami said nothing more as he suddenly clutched her in a crushing grip, held her fiercely against his side, felt her heart hammer and her entire body stiffen before her warm arms were over his back and they were holding each other again.

"My lady Isis, and my dear, dear friend..." He whispered as he wiped her tears and let her sob freely. 


	44. At Long Last, Home The END!

Bittersweet...

Endless circles in the sand, weaving their way through the coils of time. Endless years falling, coiling around their existance like a noose that always strangled, frayed, stretched thin, but never snapped. Time that never ended, so much time that had passed from where they used to be and so much distance from where they were supposed to be. It was for her king Isis wept. It was for the lost, broken years, the fractured torture, the rise and fall of Seth in all his unexplainable cruelty. It was for Seto who had appeared to be such a selfish monster, but inexpliably lay his life down as a sacrifice to save them all. And for what? A head full of memories, and a scar on his cheek that would haunt him for the rest of his mortal years? Nights filled with Seth's voice rising from the grave to haunt, a life spent always wondering if Seto's once unshakable faith in himself would crumble with one reminder?

Isis had kept back her anguish, damned it up, choked it down, swallowed the bitter taste of ash in her mouth, hid the fear in her eyes. She had faced down the monsters, and slain them without faltering, or uncertainty. She had kept her lonely vigil all these years, the angelic guardian angel over her king's memory. She had steered Egypt into a glorious era of prosperity, and ruled it with wisdom. And despite all she had done, all she had endured, and all that she had withstood,  
she could do no more than weep like a child in Yami's strong, familiar arms.

He was obviously uncertain, his grip faltering into miserable, awkward anguish, before she heard his wince, recognizing how much it all just *hurt*, and embraced her shaking, sobbing frame with a fierce desperation to break through all the confusion, the turmoil, the broken things around them. She could feel his tears sliding mutely down his cheeks, as he bowed his head, not in shame, but in weariness as they just held each other. She was solid, and real, something to cling to as he emerged so painfully from the haze. And he was the tether who understood just how much it truly wounded to come back at all into the world...again.

Again. The word gave Yami no solace, as he glanced around at the world he loathed, and was aggrieved again with all that he had lost. There were no scars on his neck, now. There was no visible reminders of all that had happened, save what he would recall in the nightmares. There wasn't really any trace of what had happened, save what lay in the memories of the suffering witnesses that stood, cowed and afraid in the living room. And Yami flinched with the realization that he and Isis were not the only ones who bore scars.

Solomon Moto stood, watchful, and wary, torn between his paternal instincts to soothe away the pain, and his inability to do anything but watch. The old man could only shake his head, stare at Yami tiredly, and then gaze around blankly at his living room, and all the aftermath. Clearly, he did not know what to do, and kept a respectful distance from the two weeping Egyptians. He felt even words would be too intrusive.

Yugi's eyes were bright with tears, the plea for forgiveness matched by Yami's own tortured glance and soft shake of his head.  
Yugi hung back out of respect, and not knowing what to say. It hurt. Everything hurt. The fact that it was all over with.  
as much as a thing so horrific could be-did nothing to ease his mind. And Yugi's heart clenched. If he were hurting this badly, he could only imagine what hell Yami had been put through.

Seto eyed the whole scene, impassive as stone, his icy eyes as revealing as a closed door to a dark room. He could have hurled a sarcastic comment, shattered the tension to humiliation, but he didn't have the heart to be that cruel, now. His own thoughts were chaotic butterflies skittering within his skull, never lighting, never breaking. He was still reeling with his own aftermath, the dying, the ressurection, being a puppet for a monster, and, most of all, reconciling with himself exactly why he had willingly sacrificed himself.

Seto pondered that with a lip curled in aggitation. There was no answers that he could come up with, and it frustrated the hell out of him. Sighing, he shrugged himself deeper into his trench coat, drawing his arms over his torso in the familiar gesture of distancing himself. Seto was grateful that everybody else seemed to be so caught up in their own issues that he could be ignored. He took refuge from the whole mess to 'get his head on straight.' And he was even more pissed off to find that he simply could not. It was no longer a simple thing to shake off the emotional turmoil, the pain, the memories, the horrible knowing that everything inside had been tainted and scarred by that monster.

Seth.

Seto could not even recall that name without a snarl of pure hatred. He had slain that parasite without flinching, without hesitation, and without any thought of what it would do to himself later. Crushing that snake was not an act of satisfying revenge, but cold necessity. Seto had never been one to indulge in angst, guilt, misery, or regret. And he refused to, now.  
But something inside him had been unmistakably altered, and Seto hated Seth all the more for taking so much of Seto with him.

Needless things, maybe. The fierce pride that he had took so much refuge in. That sharp, unshakable faith in his own mind,  
his egotistical belief that nothing could ever bring Seto to his knees. And all of that had been stripped from him in a course of a few days. And, most of all, that horror at being at somebody else's mercy.

Seto's mouth turned into a brooding scowl when he admitted to himself that he had discovered that he had a sense of compassion after all, however relunctant, and hidden, and locked away. It was the only rational explanation he had to offer himself after all that he had done. So it was because of that, Seto had held back the verbal knives. He knew how much it had hurt, and he wasn't wishing to inflict any more on anybody.

Isis had stopped sobbing, her cool veneer sliding back into place like a mask, her regal voice falling in its soothing cadence. She shuddered under Yami's grip, then carefully looked him over for injury, for comfirmation that he was real, and here. Yami gave her a tired smile of understanding, gently permitted her fingers to glide in disbelief over his unmarred throat. "As you can see, my lady, the scars are gone."

The words were unnecessary, and he regretted them as soon as Isis's bleak eyes met his own. "Not all scars are so easily healed, my king."

Yami sighed, said softly, "I didn't say they were healed, my lady."

And Isis only cradled her necklace with a weary, aching hand, another smile coiling about her lips. "In time, my brave king."

Yami's chuckle was bitter, and broken. "Time hasn't done a damn thing to heal my wounds, Isis."

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tears and gold. Broken fragments, realigning themselves,love and longing finally answering their call to blessed fulfillment.  
The Puzzle lay shattered, its final power finally unleashed to make right all that had been wrong.  
It was an act of devine retribution that had led to its sealing, now it was a devine act of mercy that called forth the light from the dark, and the beloved lost Pharoah back to his homeland.

Love understood nothing of distance, cared nothing for time, held on for eternity, endured all things until it was fulfilled.  
Its sister, sacrifice, had already relinguished Yami's years, pronounced them worthy, and released him.

Yami did not know how to put into words the sudden rush of wind flying over his soul, the unseen wings that were waiting to unfurl. He could not explain the certainty, so welcome, so liberating after all the pain that broke over all the anguish in one bright, unfurling wave. He could only bow his head, and breathe it in. It was anguish yielding to peace. It was the call of Egypt to her long lost son.

Isis felt the wafting, pale glow of her necklace, burning mutely against her skin, a gentle tug across her soul. Alarmed, she watched the mute bronze catch a breath of fire, and then radiate with a fierce light. She heard Seto's grunt of fear, Yugi's whimper.

And Yami's face went white and sweating as one hand twisted at his throat and the other one was shaking at his side, but not from fear. His eyes swept downward, mouth grimacing at the shards at his feet, as his voice wafted up softly like wind over rock, it was so raw....

"It is finished." He turned his burning eyes over his shoulder, eyes that were full of finality, and acceptance, and...peace.  
He peered into Isis's wide eyes, and carefully lifted hands over her shoulders, sought the chain, brought it away from her quaking throat with all the reverence of a holy relic.

"My king?" Isis's voice was shrill as Yami serenely held the Necklace in one hand, the other hand encircling a bloodied shard.  
To their disbelieving eyes, the shard crumbled to a mute, harmless shower of golden dust, faded out of existance with a shimmer of flame.

"The power of the Puzzle has been broken." Yami's voice had regained its warm, gentle cadence as it rolled like thunder. The shards at his feet wafted into dust, a golden wind that rose up and fell down like rain, only to linger for a few moments, and then vanish forever. Seto gaped openly at the pretty display of the twinkling lights, flinched as they fell harmlessly away.  
He didn't really know what the hell was going on, but was very glad to see the hated blades vanish, anyway.

"What's happening?!" Seto barked out as he distainfully brushed away a bit of stardust-or whatever it was from his coat.

"We are free." Yami's voice was barely a whisper full of wonder,as he gave Seto a raptured smile. "The Puzzle...it has lost all power over me. Isis, my lady...do you not feel it?!"

Isis gave Yami a serene smile,full of joy, her eyes bright with barely concealed mirth, the bright laughter sparkling.  
"Yes, my king. I feel it! Do you know what it means?"

The light from Yami's eyes was even brighter with tears as he faltered miserably between disbelieving hope and the old anguish.

Isis's heart ached with compassion as she knelt to Yami, clasped her hands over his own. "My king, it means, that at long, long last....we are going home."

Home.

It was the song of his mother's lullaby, the languid dark waters of the Nile that only remained for him in memories or photographs. It was azure sky, wide and welcoming, and golden sand, spanning onto infinity. It was his father's kind touch,  
and an end to the aching, gut-wrenching waiting that had gone on for so long.

A bitter promise thrown at him by the Puzzle's cruelty, shattered hopes denied for so long. And, now, only a breath and a prayer of it remained to keep him from breaking again. The one tether of longing, and hope that no shard could cut completely away, the one promise he had kept alive.

And, now, Isis had unwittingly stripped away all the old scabs over the deep, deep scars, and Yami knew he would break completely beyond healing if he had to wait any longer.

Isis only graced a hand over his bent shoulder, her lips twisted in sad understanding, as she gently gestured towards the throbbing door of light that had appeared as the Necklace crumbled, the last of its magic spent. Isis reverently breathed a prayer of thanks. The Necklace had been a blessing for her long and weary years,but it had been a painful burden, and a reminder of all that had happened. She released its power with little more than a passing glance, grateful that its delicate chain had finally been broken from her flesh as well.

And, like the Puzzle, it faded out of existance with no more fanfare than a last breath.

Yami felt the hot desert wind, blowing through the door, laced with the arid scent of sand and wood from across time itself.  
He closed his eyes and let the familiar touch embrace him, with a serene smile that Yugi had never seen before.

Isis raised her arms, radiating with the light, her white garment unfurling like wings as she rose to her full height.  
"My king? We do not have long in this world." Isis whispered.

The words were thick on his tongue, lodged in his throat like boulders he could not choke back, or heave upward, as he stepped towards the small, mortal audience. Tears were trickling down Yami's cheeks, torn between the joy of going home, and the agony of yet another good-bye. His heart was breaking, his heart was fairly flying, and he was once again caught between almost unbearable conflict between the two.

Once again, Solomon's paternal empathy rose to ease the pain. The old man waddled forward,gave Yami a kind, sad smile, and then solemnly groused, wagging a finger in the air between them, "You best take care of yourself, young man." Solomon stared, awkwardly, then blinked back a tear, as he ruffled Yami's golden bangs. "You have become like my own grandson, and I am very proud of you, my boy."

Yami flung the old man in a fierce embrace, felt Solomon's frame stiffen, and then, the kind, paternal arms wrapping over his quaking back in comfort. "Thank you. Thank you for the use of your home, enduring me, accepting me...sir, I cannot repay you for all that you have done for me."

Solomon grunted at that, raised an eyebrow as he gave Yugi a pointed glance. "You saved my grandson, my boy. My dear, dear boy. I wish you a safe journey. And I hope that you finally accept the healing that you so deserve." Solomon winked through his tears. "You're going to be alright. Have faith in that, Yami." And the old man gently pushed him to Yugi's side, with one last pat over his back.

Yugi. His vessle, and shell, and closest friend, intwined with his existance, and now...severed. Yami did not know how to say farewell to the one who had borne his soul, and became both friend, and enemy and closer than any brother in the process.  
Yugi looked shattered, as his glazed eyes swept over to the door, and then back to Yami, in silent, paralyzed grief.

Tears were gently flowing down his cheeks as he mutely smiled at Yami, joy and grief lingering in a bright ache in his gut.  
There were no words that could be spoken for that moment, no good-bye adequet enough, no forgiveness strong enough to take away the realization that it was all over with and Yami was leaving him forever. Yugi shuddered at the emptiness in his heart,  
where Yami literally used to dwell, put a quaking palm over his hammering chest, flinched when Yami's warm hands gently drew it away. Yami's soft incantation was whispered as his fingers glowed, and Yugi felt the pain fleeing, only to be replaced by a warm, pleasant fullness.

Yami's smile was sad at Yugi's small whimper of alarm. "I cannot take all the pain away, for that, I am so sorry."

Yugi's hopeful grin was brighter than the tears, as he sobbed with laughter, "I don't want the pain taken away, Yami. Not if it reminds me of you. Not if I can carry a bit of you with me. It's worth it, Yami, to know that that in some small way, you and I will never be apart. After seeing everything fall down...it's good to know that some good things last forever, too."

Forever. Yami let the word linger on his lips, as he gave Yugi a gentle nod. "There are no words to even begin to tell you what you have come to mean to me, Yugi. Were it not for your acceptance, and faith, I would have become a monster. Were it not for your kindness, I would have never broken free of the Puzzle's grip, or found something worth the sacrifice throughout these long years. You have been a friend throughout all of this, and for that, I cannot begin to repay you. I only ask that you forgive me for all the suffering, and hold my memories with a bit of mercy. For all my failings, I tried to keep you safe.  
Forgive me for what I couldn't do."

Yugi gripped Yami's hand in his own, as his searing eyes rose to gaze at Yami, pleading. "Yami? Whatever harm you may have done to me has been more than repaid with the fact that I'm alive and with my grandfather, in my home. NOT locked away in some puzzle, not hurting anybody...I'm *here*, and I'm alive, because of you. Yami, if you want to do anything for me at all, it would be only that you find the peace you deserve, and forgive yourself." And Yugi sobbed as he flung himself into Yami's arms, and clung to him as if he were drowning in the tears.

Yami held him close, breathing in the scent of inocence, now untainted, felt the solid reassurance of flesh and bone, and wanted to weep all the more for leaving him.

"The good things last forever, Yami." Yugi almost hissed from a voice scraped raw with emotion. And Yugi gave a cry of suprise when he felt the emptiness in his arms as Yami's flesh yielded to spirit and began its slow fading.

Yami was already shimmering with the palest glow of starlight as his body crumbled from view, leaving behind an afterglow. It was a gentle disappearance, as Yami's feet slowly vanished,his form growing more transparent, and bueatiful with the pearled light. Isis, too, was fading away, her bright garments now pale as moonlight as she lingered to curtsy low and deep to Yugi, Solomon, and Seto.

"Farewell, my friends. May your journeys end in joy and may you have peace upon your path."

In his final moments, Yami locked eyes with Seto. Seto raised his hard eyes to him, shook his head, before he allowed that icy glare to melt a bit.

"Thank you, Master Kaiba, for all that you have done. I cannot repay you for any of it."

Seto grunted at that, scrubbed an uncomfortable hand through his hair, as he only sighed, with a weary shrug.  
"We both know you can't. It's over and done with anyway."

And, to Yami's astonishment, he heard Seto mutter under his breath, "Good luck, runt. I hope you get home safe"  
It was so soft and quick, that Yami might have never heard it at all. Seto had already turned away, and was striding towards the door.

"The good things last forever." Yugi's words were already echoing as Yami's spirit departed from the world, and he flew away, next to Isis, cradled in a swoon of warm, comforting light.

Passing out of one existance and into the other should have been disorienting, but it was as natural as rising out of water after a languid bath.

Yami felt the arid wind against his hair, opened his eyes, saw the golden dunes rising high in welcome, as the dark waters of the Nile wove their hidden way past the gloaming stars to infinity.

His beloved tunic was light as air around his tanned muscles as he felt the golden crown proudly adorning his head, as Isis swirled into existance beside him with that serene grace that was so characteristic of her. She gave him a warm smile, and sighed, contently.

Gesturing behind him, she whispered, "They have waited long to see you again, my king."

Yami turned to see his mother and father beaming at him as they came over the gloaming sand. Heedless, Yami burst into a full-run, half sobbing with disbelieving joy. Yami found himself swept up in his father's arms, as his father held him in welcome and his mother only looked on, her eyes filled with love and pride.

"My son. My beloved son. I have so longed to see you again." She whispered as she ran delicate, searching fingers through his golden bangs, her thumb gliding over his cheekbone and cupping a tear. "I am so proud of you, Yami."

Yami could only weep as his father gave his wife and son a loving glance. "I have watched you with so much love over these years, Yami." His mother whispered. "And I have waited long for the day that we would all be together again."

Isis smiled tenderly as mother, father, and son were reunited at last, and watched as they slowly rose, arm in arm, into eternity, together. She raised eyes to the bright Egyptian sky, held her arms out in the futile attempt to embrace the depth, and the height and the meaning of it all, and found she couldn't.

Her heart sang when Yami gazed at her, swung his arm wide in invitation to the golden horizon ahead, and grinned. It was the same joyful glow that he had had back in Egypt, untainted mirth and bright hope at long last restored.

And Yami himself smirked down at the sand beneith him, breathed in the sweet freedom.

They were home at last. 


End file.
